The approval of N10 billion for the provision of a solar mini grid for the State House, Aso Villa, Abuja, has caused quite a stir. The project, with the budget code ERGP202502463 and titled: “Solarisation of the Villa with Solar Mini Grid”, has raised the State House’s capital budget for 2025 from N47bn to N57bn.

The President Bola Tinubu administration has in the past two years removed subsidies on petrol and categories of power consumers by more than 300 per cent. It plans to widen the spectrum of power consumers who must pay more as the regime moves further towards the total withdrawal of power subsidy.

Ordinarily, this move should not raise too many eyebrows. The State House is the seat of power. It is one of our national symbols in the category of the Constitution, National Flag, National Anthem, National Pledge, National Currency and others. It attracts leaders and other august visitors from all over the world. A situation where the lights keep coming on and going off amidst the sound of generators is a great embarrassment to all Nigerians, irrespective of whether or not they live or work there.

The administration’s supporters also argue that having decentralised electric power to enable states and individuals establish and operate their own grids, the Presidency is only tapping into the policy for its own benefit.

However, the dismay that many Nigerians have expressed over this issue is that the Presidency is moving to protect itself from our power woes. By building this solar grid and cutting itself off from the epileptic national grid, the Presidency is building an extra wall of separation or cocoon from the realities that ordinary Nigerians face everyday. They will no longer share in the pains of the people they govern.

Critics argue that the utopian world that our leaders create for themselves is responsible for the lack of improvement in leadership quality. Over the years, Nigerians have come to see their leaders move around in armoured vehicles. They mop up Police and even military personnel for their own protection, leaving the ordinary citizens at the mercy of kidnappers, bandits, Fulani herdsmen terrorists, violent criminals and others.

They neglect our health system and the welfare of health sector workers, forcing many of them to seek greener pastures abroad, while the ordinary citizens are abandoned to their fate. Meanwhile, our leaders splurge our taxpayer money on themselves, taking care of their health in well-governed foreign countries.

Gone are the days when leaders like Ahmadu Bello, Akanu Ibiam, Aminu Kano, Michael Okpara and others, put the well-being of their people before their own comforts. With the provision of its own dedicated mini grid, how will the Aso Villa tenants be motivated to push Nigeria towards energy sufficiency and affordability?