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I have three important words for us to ponder about: Nigeria in Peril. I have started projecting for next year and one of the amazing discoveries after reviewing my cost profile for the year 2008 was the amount of money spent on electric power supply: Three Hundred Thousand naira (about 2500 USD) on fuel alone, Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand naira (about 2916 USD)   on procuring, installing and maintaining a 3KVA inverter and Two Hundred and Ten Thousand naira (about 1750 USD) on procuring and maintaining a 5KVA petrol-driven electric generator.

 

 

Wow! This is really serious. Despite the fact that I make use of the national grid, I still spend this much for electricity. Then I started to think of companies that cannot do without electricity for their operations and chief amongst them is the telecoms industry. I can imagine the massive profit, they would have declared if electricity was not an issue in Nigeria. Well, these large companies can manage because they can simply pass the costs on their induced-loyal subscribers. What about start-ups like me?

 

 

There is this common statistics I pick from business book from America which states that 4 out of 5 business start-up will fail in their first 5 years of operation. Can you imagine that America with their stable electric power supply does not encourage start-ups with their dooming statistics, and then what will be the statistics for Nigeria start-up business? I really don’t think most people have really looked at the effect of incessant dilapidated electric power supply on the social-economic landscape of Nigeria.

 

 

I have always wondered why China was adamantly supporting the Sudanese government in the case of the genocide happening @ Dafur. The answer is very simple; trade! China buys cheap oil from Sudan and Sudan buys their industrial products like weapons, planes, etc. Although this is not a valid reason for being a proponent of genocide, China knows the survival of more than a billion of their populations is on trade. If there is no sink for their products, the industries will phase out. If the industries phase out, there will be no job. If there is no job, crime rate will increase and there will be social unrest. If there is social unrest, the polity will suffer.

 

 

Enterprise development and Industry building is the key to building a nation; a nation that does not engage in these activities is prone to extinction. Almost all the enterprise in Nigeria depends on the use of electricity one way or the other and if no solution is in sight for this lingering electric power problem, there is bound to be chaos in sight especially on the psychological framework of the youths: The fear of going on a limb to start their own business instead of continuous search for limited jobs.

 

 

FEAR is simply an acronym for False Evidence Appearing Real but how will Nigerian youths know that the fear associated with starting-up a business is not real if there is no light to see. When you are in darkness, you fear the worst but when there is light, there is no shadow, no doubt, no fear, just plain understanding. Marie Curie, the creator of radioactivity, said it better: “Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood”. The first thing God created in this earth was light (Gen 1:3); the first thing the government of Nigeria needs to fix is the electricity, then all other things can follow.

 

 

I remember vividly speaking to one of my foreign partners about starting something in Nigeria; after painting the picture of how the demography/population will impact the demand of their product. The representatives simply pointed the cost of running electricity to pursue such projects in Nigeria. They told me of their fellow countrymen that have tried such in Nigeria and it had been a dismal failure. Each time I remember this meeting, I think of President Obasanjo travelling round the world seeking for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI); he really did not have to beg for FDI; all he needed to do was build the right environment and FDI would come knocking at Nigerian’s door.

 

 

It is 3.00 am in the morning and I am hammering away on my computer; my generator is malfunctioning and of course there is no electricity from the nation’s supplier. I am so grateful I have one of this electromate 400 with me powering my computer and fan and the LED areal light from the electromate 400 is such a life saver. Wow! It’s good to have such tool in these times; I am wondering what will happen to so many great ideas out there that have not been trapped because of lack of electricity. Please, give us our daily light!!!