“If you are on the path of success and an alternative path is created, you would definitely not succeed†– Dipo Tepede
I keep on wondering when the word generator commonly called “I better pass my neighbour†would be totally eradicated from the socio-economy strata of our beloved country Nigeria. I wonder if my great grand-children would hear the word and it does not appear strange to them. This is the dilemma I faced when I relocated from VI to Apapa; my first night was a living hell. It was as if one really did not need to die to experience the proverbial “hellâ€. Yes, it was total hell; it wasn’t even the electric power failure that bothered me, it was the noise, blast and pandemonium associated with using this so called “I better pass my neighbourâ€.
Quite perturbed about the whole generator scenario, I became curious about the effect of having this crazy technology in Nigeria. Why is it that the producers of this equipment don’t even make use of it? What was on the mind of the inventor? Was it a country like Nigeria? I became so curious that I sampled the opinions of the expatriates in my department; the Togolese told me that there was hardly power failure, the Indian told me that though there were occasional power failure, the cost of fuel was so high that Indians hardly make use generator, I did not even bother asking the rest because I already know the answer. This got me very disturbed; why is Nigeria so different? Why?
I remembered a story my line manager told me about his travel to Cote d’voire; on arrival to every hotel, he asked if the hotel had electric power back-up and the hotel said they did not, he immediately left to other hotels. After going to about four hotels and the response was the same – no electric power back-up. He kept wondering how he was going to finish his presentation if the battery of his laptop runs out. He opted to stay in one of the hotels praying there was no power failure. On reaching the front desk of one of the hotels, he could not hide his anger and he complained to the manager about not having electric back-up. The manager was surprised and asked him why he needed a power back-up. Well, before he could tell him the reason, it dawned on him that he was no longer in Nigeria.
When would Nigeria change? The first speech of President Obasanjo was filled with the promise of providing constant electric power supply. Wow, that was his first speech and I believe the guy really meant it but what really happened. Why was he not able to implement this so called project? There are so many questions and definitely no answer. I wonder if liberalizing the power sector like the telecommunication sector would yield the answer we crave for. I am just wondering and I hope I don’t develop migraine because as I was typing this article, NEPA or is it PHCN just showed their colour and guess what the noise just kept magnifying.
As I looked at my already depleted battery, I started envisioning a Nigeria without power failure; what I see, is very beautiful. More beautiful than I ever envisioned so I started wondering what causes power failure, why can’t we have uninterrupted power supply from PHCN. Are there issues from generating power supply, is it transmission or is it distribution but whatever the cause for this mess we find our self, I strongly believe the reason why the situation has not been arrested is because of the substitute to PHCN, “I better pass my neighbourâ€, inclusive. If there was nothing like generating plant and other sources of personal power supply; you can imagine, Mr. President sleeping without light; no Air Condition, all the food that the First Lady buys constantly spoils because the refrigerator is not functioning. The governors can not watch News because there was no light, the senators are feeling the heat that comes with power failure, industries are held at stand still, the opulence and the serene atmosphere of the bank is destroyed because of this power issue. Trust me; the Electric Power supply issue would have been resolved.
The only reason why there is no cure is because of crazy alternatives like generators. Just recently, my colleagues introduced me to another alternative called the INVERTER; this one is better than “I better pass my neighbour†because it is noiseless and it pays economically in the long run but it still produces the same effect – the lackadaisical attitude towards revamping the power supply in Nigeria. I only pray that in my life time, I would experience “Nobody better pass him neighbourâ€.Â
