By Ugochukuwu Ejinkeonye
By Wednesday, April 1, 2015 whenNigeria ’s
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced General Muhammadu
Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the March 2015
presidential elections, the rainy season was already here with us. And as all
keen and informed observers of Nigeria ’s
power sector were already fully aware, at that particular season each year, we
usually witnessed some improvement in electricity supply due to the increase in
the water level usually witnessed at our dams; and 2015 was certainly not going
to be an exception.
By Wednesday, April 1, 2015 when
While the APC
and its supporters were all over the place immersed in boundless revelling, chest-beatings
and other self-congratulatory gestures, and asking anyone whose ear they were
able to attract to await the wonders and miracles which the APC had so freely
and loudly promised during the elections now that their “Wonder Man” has won
the election, I visited a shop near my office. And there I saw a barely
literate young man who was so happy with himself as he confidently told the few
people who had some time to spare for his poorly coordinated lectures about what
he perceived as Buhari’s pre-inauguration accomplishments:
“You see what I have been saying? The man has not even
been sworn in and we are already enjoying light [electricity supply] every day!
What will happen then when he is sworn in? Just wait and see! Once he enters
there, you will see how everything will change!”
His cocksureness
was amazing. He spoke pidgin English, and so what I have attempted here is mere
paraphrase of his happy outbursts.
Now, one could
easily ignore this clear advertisement of ignorance, but after listening to that
fellow that bright afternoon, and thought about the matter later, I begun to have
this fear lurking somewhere in me that the APC, given its antecedents and
distinguishing character, might soon start reechoing this fellow. Anyone who closely observed the party during
the campaigns and elections would readily recall that, somehow, it does not easily
recoil from saying just anything that can help it win a few more ears no matter
how easily such claims would simply evaporate in the face of reality.
And so, I had
to quickly write an article entitled, “Electricity:
Can Buhari Break The Jinx?” in which I attempted an analysis of why,
in my view, former President Goodluck Jonathan could not achieve an impressive
record in the power sector and urged Buhari and his people to hasten to do the
right things to achieve a name for themselves since they had unduly raised the
people’s expectations during the campaigns. Then I gave them the timely counsel
which is contained in the following extract:
“Now, it is a known
fact that during each rainy season, there is usually some improvement in
electricity supply as currently being witnessed by Nigerians. But instead of
deploying solid effort to increase the amount of electricity generation and
distribution in the country, the government may naively choose to sit still and
start announcing this development as one of its ‘great achievements.’ That would amount to repeating the folly of
previous administrations which had also done that forgetting that the rains
would soon go away and they would run out of lies trying to explain away the
biting reality that would dawn with the sudden return of darkness.”