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“It (power supply) has improved 200 times. We have the capacity to generate more than 13,000MW of power. The uptake is up to 5,000MW as we speak now. That is not the best, but it is an improvement on the 2,500 megawatts that we inherited.”
— Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to President Buhari, January 7, 2022 in a television interview in Lagos.
This article is based on one universally accepted assumption; that every spokesman for the President of a modern nation speaks for the President and the government. In fact, even if he had previously declared that his utterances are his own personal opinion, the government is collaterally held commendable or condemnable on account of the statement. Garba Shehu’s declaration quoted above will be treated as FG’s position on the matter.
The article was also actually provoked by the globally recognised primary role of cheap and efficient generation and distribution of power in economic and social development. It is not a mere coincidence that the world’s twenty leading economies also generate and distribute nationally among the largest megawatts of power per day.
In fact, of all the continents on Earth, Africa, still the Dark Continent, is the only one in which the disputable largest economy, Nigeria, generates less power than at least four others — South Africa, Egypt, Tunisia and Ethiopia.
Nigerians have allowed several irresponsible governments, including the present one, to pass over to us the buck of the responsibility for power generation by docilely purchasing millions of generators for our use, as well as spending billions of naira and dollars to procure generators for those who perpetually keep us in darkness.
In return for our “generosity”, we are frequently insulted by statements such as the one Garba Shehu released.
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