In all my adult life, we keep grappling with the same sets of
economic challenges as a society. Going to 56 years after independence, we are
still stuck with the same issues, fuel scarcity, lack of electricity, bad roads
etc.
No wonder former President Jonathan counted “constant
availability of petroleum products” as an achievement. Well, it is not so funny
again. Apparently, the ability to place an order for fuel cargo is the
equivalent of rocket science in Nigeria. It should be sad enough that we cannot
refine our crude oil. We have now gone to the extent of not being competent
enough to import from those who can refine theirs! We can’t refine and we can’t
import!
President Buhari cannot be held responsible for the rot at NNPC.
The corporation has been a cesspool of decay and headquarters of incompetence
for decades. And we’ve been experiencing fuel shortages from the days of
military rule as far as I can remember. In fact, fuel queues were a logo of the
Gen. Sani Abacha regime.
Many years after, we are still moaning about fuel scarcity
again. We have been doing that in the last 16 years. The more we say things
have changed, the more they remain the same. The refineries did not work under
Abacha. Obasanjo was in power for eight years and the refineries did not work.
President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua came around for nearly three years and the
refineries remained useless. Jonathan held power for five years, same story. I
don’t even know Buhari’s strategy, but repairing the refineries is a waste of
time and resources. They can’t even meet our needs in any case!
Discussing the power crisis can lead to sanity. When Obasanjo
became president in 1999, we celebrated generating and distributing 4,000mw.
Under Vision 20-2020, we were supposed to be at 10,000mw by 2007. When Obasanjo
left in 2007, we were still celebrating 4,000mw. Yar’Adua promised to declare
power emergency “within 100 days” of his inauguration. Instead, he stalled the
projects started by Obasanjo and kept grumbling that $15 billion was spent on
power with “nothing to show for it”. Jonathan came, saw and left us celebrating
4,000mw. We’re still stuck at roughly 4,000mw — where we were 16 years ago.
Buhari has promised us 10,000mw again!
Anyone who left Nigeria 30 years ago and returned last week would be amazed that we are still discussing the same issues. Newspaper headlines are so alike. We are still discussing run-down refineries, collapsed education system, epileptic power supply, corrupt police force, hopeless hospitals, bad roads, unpaid salaries, forex crisis, diversification of the economy and all that. We have changed presidents, changed forms of government, changed parties and we are still cutting and pasting the same issues. Read more at:
Nigerians should be desperate to see Buhari succeed not just
because they like him but also because this is a very rare opportunity to have
such an upright and strong character as president. If he fails, we’re stewed.
For Nigeria to develop with the tenacity of purpose, we need a
patriotic, honest and strong-willed leader working with a competent team. But Buhari
must be flexible in the area of policy. If a blueprint is not working, you are
allowed to modify it to accommodate new ideas. NNPC is going nowhere the way it
is. The power situation will continue to get worse as things stand. Pragmatism
is no corruption, dear president.
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