For some time now we inhabitants of the section of Owerri metropolis known and addressed as World Bank Housing Estate have been living in darkness. Infact to the people in World Bank, NEPA has forgotten us in terms of power supply. We are only remembered when a new electricity bill is about to be shared out because most people do not have any form of meter whether prepaid or port paid. Even when the bill has a column for last meter reading figures are arbitrarily computed to the extent that your complaints to the PHCN office meets with a type of rehearsed sympathy. The type of sympathy shown to a young lamb by a mother lion before making a meal out of it.
Well, Oga just pay this one now and when the prepaid meter comes all errors will be corrected. Who said so. Because of the amount of money PHCN expects from the consumers in World Bank Housing Estate they are not in any way hastening the delivery of the prepaid meter. Reason being that when the meter comes, you will be paying for what you consume whereas as it stands now you are paying without consumption. The difference is clear and the proper margin is also clear.
Month after month the people pay the outrageous bills slammed on them by PHCN. If you refuse to pay they cut and carry the cables away. Thus denying you, the occasional forays of electricity that shows up after midnight. I often believe that the timing is to enable us have sweet dream that are illuminated whatever that means.
Then suddenly the light went completely for days and the rumour went round that it was a national problem which was not true. How can a nation allow its citizenry to stay in the dark. It is not just darkness that is the issue but all that go with electricity principally, that of preservation. It is not surprising that I did not say production because all the outfits whether manufacturing or assembling, have learnt not to rely on PHCN for power supply and have adjusted their productive capacity to the level allowed by costly diesel with the consequences of transferring the cost to their consumers. We have since learnt not to complain because the previous complains went to no where and even if they did, what we get in return is the incessant promise of a projected 2015 when power will be interruptible. As have always been announced, many more mega walts are being generated and pushed into the National grid. A neigbour jokingly said that as the power is being generated, it is being transferred to the national grid where it is being held by Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN. He assured his audience that, all the held mega walts of electricity shall be released by 2015.
Each time the Minister for Information, Mr Labaran Maku begins to analyse the power sector I look straight into his face and I see Chief Bola Ige completely messed up and ruined, I see Prof Barth Nnaji refusing to be messed up and instead quit, I also see Prof Chinedu Nebo struggling not to be messed up, who knows.
Some one argued that nobody is sincere with the issue of power generation because we have never heard of a revoked contract or a reprimanded contractor. You will always hear of a dysfunctional or blown turbine who supplied them who installed them and the terms of contract are never heard of. So the issue of power supply has gone down to the level of lets keep watching to see.
But suddenly before 9.00pm on Wednesday the 7th of August 2013, the electricity light showed up and so we were opportune to watch the NTA network news. In the middle of the news the Sultan of Sokoto appeared to announce the sighting of the moon which signaled the end of the Ramadan fast. The light was on throughout that night and lasted till morning. At about 8.00am it went off and before the next 10mins it was back again and lasted all day without interruption.
It continued throughout the night and by the next day at about 11.00am it went. It became obvious that the light came because of the Sallah celebration. For we non-Moslems it was a rehearsal of 2015 but the truth remains that Eid-el-Fitri celebration of 2013 was celebrated with electricity. By the end of the 9th of August, the Sallah had been successfully celebrated, the power supply had reclined to what it used to be epileptic to say the least.
My conclusion was that this country knows what it is doing with her citizens. My neighbours are saying that we should urge our Moslem brothers to extend the Eid-el-Fitri celebrations that brought NEPA or PHCN to full consciousness and responsibility. The song is still going on in my head.
Thank you and good bye dear Eid-el-fitri and please come again very soon. If you can come with some extension like say starting from Monday to Friday, we shall kill more than one ram because the meat will not waste. It will be fully preserved.
