By Helen Ovbiagele, Woman Editor
Mrs C, I learnt you’re returning home tomorrow,” I told this lady who had come with her family to spend the Christmas holiday here.  It was their first time in the country and they had been invited here by a business acquaintance of her husband. “Have you all enjoyed your vacation here?  Will you be visiting us again in future?”

“Madam, we loved it here and we’ve had an almost perfect holiday in your country,” she responded.
“Almost?  What’s the “but” about your stay then?  Things were below your expectations?”

“Oh no!  There’s no country in the world where everything is perfect; security of life and property can’t be perfect, and so are some essential social services.  So, when one comes out like this, you don’t expect 100 per cent perfection in all things.  From the little I observed, Nigerians are caring.”

“Well, that’s in our culture throughout the country. We’re brought up to be our brother’s keeper. That may not always be convenient for everyone when you have to try and survive first, but, yes, most Nigerians do care.”

“That’s a good thing.  Our host and his family were most kind and they looked after us so well. They did their utmost to see that we had a good time.  In fact, they waited on us hand and foot; a gesture we cannot reciprocate if they visit us, since domestic services that seem to be in abundance here, are not readily affordable back in Europe. You’ll have to be excessively rich to be able to afford on full-time basis,  the services of maids, drivers, nannies, etc., in my country.  Yes, we’ve had a nice time, but the big disappointment was the terrible state of electricity supply.”

“Oh, that!  It’s quite hard on us, but we do get by with generators.”
“But, that’s not a good thing at all.  Generating units are a health hazard.  Our host and his family live in a low density area of this city, where I understand, the wealthy have their homes. It’s a lovely area in spite of the bad roads, but the noise of generating sets from every house, day and night, almost drove us crazy.  The fumes from them are dangerous to breathing. Our two youngest children had to be rushed to the hospital one evening when they had breathing difficulties.  It was so scary.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.  I hope they got better fast.”

“Yes, they did. They were attended to at a nearby private hospital which I could see, caters for the well-heeled.  Service there is good and the staff efficient.  The doctor knew exactly what to do to get them breathing with ease again.  It must have cost our host a bomb, but he wouldn’t hear of us paying.  The doctor told us to keep them away from fumes from vehicle exhausts and  generating sets.”

”Hm! That’s a bit difficult.  Fumes from vehicle exhaust pipes can be avoided when out, by winding up your windows and putting on the air-conditioner.  How did you cope with keeping them away from generator fumes?”

”We couldn’t. We couldn’t keep them locked up in the house all the time, or have them cover their faces with handkerchiefs.  We just have to leave this environment.  That’s why we had to cut short our stay by some days, and  we’re returning to Europe tomorrow.”
“Oh, that’s a great pity.”

“Yeah. Frankly, madam, I don’t know how you Nigerians cope with the dismal electricity supply.  I learnt it isn’t limited to Lagos, that the situation prevails all over the country.  This is not to incite your citizens, but there’s no way we can accept such a situation in my country.  Look, we’ve been here a little over one week now, and we’ve been on generators.  Our host has two – one for day time and one for night.

He told us that the body responsible for electricity supply in their area told residents that the transformer for the area has broken down beyond repairs, and it could take weeks or even months for a replacement to be brought.  That’s not possible, is it?”

“”Well, it is. That’s a problem many residents have to contend with.  That’s the reason there’s a generator in almost every house in the cities and big towns.”

”Our host said he used to take a generator with him whenever he visited his village, but he now rents one in a nearby village, where it’s big business renting out gen sets.  Power supply is something we take for granted in Europe, as it’s always available, and you could go many years without power failure.  Barring natural disaster, if there’s going to be an interruption of supply, residents would be told.  They’ also know when light would be restored. Nigerians are so resilient.”

That last sentence caps it all.  Nigerians are so tolerant and resilient that they would rather find their own way around a problem that is the government’s, than confront the government and give it marching order.

In my area, we had no electricity for two days before Christmas, but on Christmas day we had electricity for just three hours and then that was it.  Since then, not a flicker.  No PHCN staff came round to tell us what was happening; why we had no electricity, and when power will be restored.

Why is the problem of electricity supply defying all solutions?  For many years now, the first thing anyone who finds himself at the head of the country would promise to do, was ensure more regular, if not permanent, power supply.  We would all applaud him and see him as the right person to lead us into a better life; and sometimes, for a while, there would be some improvement in supply. Then before you could turn the next page, the situation will begin to deteriorate until we’re worse off than when that ruler came on board.

No one can pin-point why the problem cannot be solved.  We all turn to using generating sets, with all the attendant costs and danger.

Right now, diesel is N120 per litre!  How many of us can afford that on a permanent basis?    Only the very rich can. Many lives have been lost through using generating sets; whole families wiped out through inhaling the fumes inside the house while asleep; people blown apart while fueling the set while it is on, etc.  Which is the way forward?  No one seems to know.

We hear of transformers being brought into the country to boost power supply, but no one can say which areas of the country are benefitting from this.  The transformers are probably rotting away somewhere while we argue about which communities should be given.

One would expect an oil- rich country as Nigeria not to have power or gas problem.  Just before Christmas, the cost of cooking gas began to rise. Add this to the outrageous food prices this season, where a small bulb of onion cost N100, and you would know how hard hit the man on the street is, financially. This is in a country where millions across the nation have no jobs.

Do our rulers care?   Will they be committed enough to the country to remove this disgrace of dismal power supply?