National power grid collapse is it! It is dropped on our laps again. They are feasting on it covetously. It has been heavily commercialised.
The avarice in us has come into the open one more time. They are fast turning it into a cash cow. And they are not pretending. The reason for the frequent collapse of the grid.
It has assumed the stature of a pandemic. Sad! It refuses to let us be. Is it deliberate?
It is not impossible. It’s wearing a dreaded garment. A fearful dimension is emerging. It is speedily heading the destructive way of its cousins; fuel subsidy, Boko Haram, terrorism, bandits et al.
They are reaping bountifully from our woes. It has become a lucrative sub-sector of our weird and wild economy. Ever wonder? Why should a serious nation allow its power grid to collapse?
Yes, we did allow that to happen again. On September 14, 2023, it occurred. That day, the pandemic reared its ugly head as usual. We were scandalised.
Twice in less than six hours, the grid collapsed on us. It was devastating. We are yet to recover fully. The power generation dropped. It came down to an all-time low of 273 megawatts. It was a national disgrace, dishonor.
This pandemic is strictly ours. A Nigerian variant. Luckily for the rest of the world. Unlike China’s COVID-19, our type can’t and won’t cross borders. It’s bordered. Only meant for us. It is customised.
A pandemic we bluntly refuse to accord the needed attention. We are yet to find effective “vaccine” for it. All measures; past, present and future are too cosmetic. We merely white wash.
Attention is focused weakly on the symptoms. The real cause remains a mirage, fantasy. Nobody. Not even one is seriously thinking of checkmating the pandemic.
So? It festered unhindered. It has put us in a straightjacket. This power grid collapse stares us in the face. It affects everybody. Not really so with COVID-19.
Collapse of national grid is bitting us hard. It covers every facet. No sector is spared. It is our nightmare. The history of this uncommon pandemic will shock you. Even one with a stone-heart will succumb. It’s more than alarming.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari left a footprint. He was stingy in power grid collapse. For the eight years he held sway, he only gifted us 98 grid collapses. He was around between 2015 and 2023. He didn’t stop at that.
The Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC) lent credible credence to it. It provided more facts and figures. Buhari met power generation capacity at 6,616.28 megawatts in 2015. He crashed it to 5,634.47MW by August 2022. That’s not all.
In the same period, the sector losses rose to N1.76trillion. APGC was worried. And it expressed it in clear terms:
“The report indicated that the quantum of available generation in Nigeria was not impressive.” This is how the grid collapse took turns on us. The after effects are damaging:
“The available generation capacities were 2015, 6,616.28MW; 2016, 7,039.96MW; 2017, 4,687.26MW; 2018, 7,506.23MW; 2019, 7,381.67MW, 2020, 7,792.51MW; 2021: 6,336.52MW and 2022, 5,634.47MW.”
To be clear, no government escaped this power pandemic. Virtually, almost of them did nothing. They didn’t have the will. And their courage failed them.
At least, from 1999, government made us victims of their man-made grid collapse. They all played along until they expired one after the other.
But Buhari did something. He was bold enough to make some interventions. He pumped N1.51trillion to the sector. It, however, failed to make appreciable impact. Rather the messy situation became messier.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), broke down the collapse. There were 10 cases in 2015. It rose to 28 in 2016 and 2017 recorded 21 cases. In 2018, 13 cases; 2019, 11 collapses; 2020 with four and 2021 had four.
At a point, we nearly lost out completely. It was the worst case. That was on April 9, 2022. It was a collapse like no any other: “The nation’s power system collapsed to 33mw around 01.00hours after it had earlier posted a peak generation of 3,281.50mw at 00.00 hour the same day.”
NERC vowed “to ensure grid stability and continue to enforce and monitor compliance by Discos and TCN with respect to the execution of service level agreements to ensure further grid discipline.”
Perhaps! But this is not convincing enough, not at all. The commission should dig deeper than this. We know that you know and you know. That saboteurs are glaringly at work. They are resolute determined.
NERC, be on your guard. Gird your loins accordingly.
No previous government showed any seriousness. They won’t halt grid collapse. It was not in their dubious agenda. It would hurt their greedy pockets. They have insatiable appetite for public funds.
That is why they opted to treat the symptoms of the grid collapse. They allowed its root cause to bloom and blossom at the same time. They simply looked the other way. They threw huge amount at the symptoms. That is how to make a cash cow out of the grid collapse.
In this rowdy mixture, government is not bothered. They are not feeling the pains they inflict on us daily. They are bent in adding to our woes. We thought the government we “offended” had gone with the whirlwinds. We goofed.
Help! Government is threatening us. They want to punish us for no reason. And further hike in electricity rate is their weapon. This is in face of unending grid collapse. They are unrepentant. They want to snuff the only life we have out of us.
We could see their hideous hand writing on their cracked wall. We could read their thick lips correctly. Their body language, actions and inactions give them out.
Please, stop this music. The singsong is not pleasant to our ears and eyes.
Allow us to breath the breathe of life.
Credit: Daily Sun