Important Notice
Published by toyin on Tagged Action, Governannce, Lagos, Nigeria
We cannot continue to be unconcerned about the growing poverty in our nation! If we do this, we are inviting Armageddon quicker than it would have come. The reality in Nigeria today is that the economic well being of the majority is severely threatened by conducts of the minority in government. A nation that is ruled by people that have no decency is bound to fall into a ditch. Our leaders have shown, largely by their collective actions that they do not really understand what governance is all about.
To curb the increasing crime and violence in the country, the President must declare a State of Emergency on unemployment. I am not one of the people who seem to think that government must employ everybody for the country to develop. But I am a strong believer in the fact that government must take the initiative in the direction of economic empowerment and social development. How can we achieve this?
Let there be Power! In the past three months, I’ve written extensively on the significance of electricity in Nigeria’s drive to achieve economic turn around and poverty reduction. Everywhere, the demand has always been same; give us power. Tens of millions of Nigerians are self-employed entrepreneurs. They range from hairdressers to tailors, welders to barbers, ‘pure water’ manufacturers to shoe makers. The list is endless. The common ground is that none of these people can survive without electricity.
Leaving this group of people and moving to the big manufacturing concerns, the story and demand is the same. Recently, an industrial gas supplier in Lagos, Gaslink cut supplies to manufacturing concerns in the state and about 15 companies wound down immediately. Two people that I know are currently affected. Such is the significance of power in a nation that is desperate to re-invent itself and move into development. Solving the energy question therefore will be a major achievement for any government.
Brazil, a country that was ranked with Nigeria as the next ‘big’ issues just 20 years ago recently experienced power outage that knocked off 17,000 megawatts from its grid through the monstrous Itaipu dam. And this is from just one Hydro Power Station. Here we are ‘working’ very hard to attain 6000 megawatts after billions of petro dollars have been spent. A lot of the investment remains unseen, questionable and absolutely indefensible.
So what could aid quality of live in Nigeria has become the mirage of a sunny day to a driver on a highway; he keeps seeing the water like image in front of him but never fast enough to catch up with it!
Several promises are made and political noise thrown up but yet Nigeria is still in darkness after 10 years of democracy. I have often asked the question that ‘why is it so difficult to make electricity available in the country’? Is it that this government does not know the importance or the fact that they run on generators on public expense matters little to them?When Nigeria, through her leaders solves the problem of electricity, we would have succeeded in reducing poverty to a great extent. Our collective drive must be targeted towards achieving this, as it will form the platform for our drive to economic development and relevance among the comity of Nations.
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