PHCN: Nigeria's NO.1 ECONOMIC SABOTEUR!

Formally it was NEPA (National Electric Power Authority), but now it is PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria). Others that are operating the same way are EKEDC (Eko Distribution Company Plc) or it's like in other parts of the country.

Whether NEPA, PHCN, OR EKEDC, closely looking at their inability to provide stable supply of electricity in Nigeria, one can categorize them as the number one (NO. 1) economic saboteurs of the Nigerian Economy.

Most parts of the country, if not all, are presently being ravaged by devastating lack of electricity supply. It didn't just start today - it has lingered for several decades and It is a challenge that has drastically helped in grinding the country's economy below expected levels.

Power problem has been resident in Nigeria for a very long time that some Nigerians have never seen 6 hours uninterrupted power supply since they were born! It is this same problem that promising and reliable minds have, at different times, been drafted to tackle but ended up being tackled! Nigerians, as a people have been living with power outages for over four decades now and have lived to manage themselves around the problem. As the years goes by, the problem does not seem to abate - there seems to be no solution in sight. All we hear in the news is that several billions of dollars which can not be accounted for was injected into the power sector with nothing to show for it. It looks like the government is overtly clueless as to how to revamp and revive the power sector and they are not treating the problem as a matter of national emergency. 

Nigerians need electricity to power and drive their lives, livelihood and businesses. A lack in power supply will adversely affect the economic empowerment of the masses. The tomato and pepper grinder, the barbers shop, the business centers, the workshops, phone repairer, offices, businesses, manufacturing companies, institutions, homes etc all need power supply. The manufacturing firms needs power to drive it's machines and when it is not available, the either fold up or turn to other means of generating power which will affect the cost of production and make the products produced not to be competitive in terms of pricing in the market.

How many investors have refused to pitch there tent in Nigeria because of our unstable supply of power? How many ingenious companies have folded up or are producing below their capacity because of lack of stable power supply? The number is alarming. Let's talk about the small to medium sized businesses. You usually see a lot of small business owners either sleeping or locking up shop for that day due to lack of power and/or fuel to power their machines or business.

How can Nigeria power her economy when basic social utilities like electricity is never available. The amount of corruption in the power sector has reached an alarming proportion. 

A private contractor who spoke under anonymity said:

"I line with my business pursuit, I visited the Egbin Power Plant in Ijede Town and coincidentally, representatives of generator companies also visited. It was a large delegate and what I saw scared me. These people came with raw cash in several hundreds of millions of Naira to give to the officials. There objective was to get them to sabotage the supply of power to major industrial areas so that they can continue patronizing their heavy generator duty sales."

The conclusion of the matter was that they collected and the private contractor who spoke to us under anonymity said "I was offered =N=250,000 just for being around" Call that luck? This is very appalling.

The obvious fact is that the industrial areas will not be the only ones suffering power failure, residential areas will also be included. No wonder generator sales is a lucrative business in Nigeria. 

President Mohammadu Buhari should end the pains and trials his people have been subjected to for decades by the some evil minded and greedy people. This is the challenge the government must tackle with immediate effect and automatic alacrity!


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