It’s the Electricity, Stupid. Why 68 Million Nigerian Youths Have No Jobs.[font=Lucida Sans Unicode][/font][size=8pt][/size]



Sixty eight million is a large number. If you are a Nigerian, you probably know someone between the ages of 15-34 looking for a job. A large number of these youths have college degrees, many graduated two, three or four years ago. They are your children, cousins, nephews, nieces, and they all have one thing in common. No Jobs. I have gone on record to say one of the major problems with Nigeria is one of strategy and execution, not creativity. We envision big things. We have lofty ideas. Yet there seems to be a breakdown between what we want to have and what we are willing to organize ourselves in order to obtain. The last 30 years are proof positive that there is no way for Nigeria to manifest the brilliance, productivity and economic influence she absolutely can have without first directing consistent efforts and allocating resources toward building a power infrastructure that will support this new and improved Nigeria. Electricity should be our highest priority. Not putting this first is akin to building a house from the roof down. Why? Two reasons.

Reason #1 – Nigeria is an economic powerhouse waiting to happen. The country is on the verge of a several economic revolutions, including agricultural, technological, telecommunications and more. But we may stay on the verge if we don’t get this power thing straightened out. Without adequate power, the revolution simply isn’t coming. If we are ever going to enhance Nigeria’s economic strength, we must focus our attention on ensuring that each state has 24-hour electricity for every day of the week.

Reason #2 – Lagos State recently stated that it has graduated 30,000 skilled members of the workforce ranging in professions from fabrication and refrigeration to computing and barbing to name a few. How can these graduates possibly expect to achieve gainful employment or build businesses to create new jobs without access to adequate electricity? Further, why would we expect them to stay in Nigeria to build the country if their skills have outpaced our way of life? Too many of our best and brightest talents and future leaders end up making the choice to leave Nigeria, not because they want to, but because in order to reach their goals, they must.

The administration’s take on the power issue.

A few years ago, there was quite a bit of buzz surrounding President Jonathan’s decision to get a Facebook page. More still, when he began posting daily. He invited all of Nigeria to interact with him using Facebook as a way to engage with his public “without the trappings of office.” One of his first comments was actually to me in response to my post that I have an idea that can generate 4,000 megawatts of electricity for Nigeria. His response:

Again I spent time reading your comments and yesterday a youth named Toyin Dawodu indicated that he had an idea for a project that could deliver 4,000 MWs of electricity. I believe in the creativity and the spirit of innovation resident in our youth and I want to give Toyin Dawodu a chance to be heard. Toyin, someone from my office will make contact with you regarding your idea. I know I cannot attend to every comment or suggestion due to time constraints, but please do know that I read them and they influence my actions. GEJ

Judging by President Jonathan’s response, it would seem as though he was relieved to hear address the issue, perhaps even anxious to hear my plan. Well, it’s been more than two years since the president and I share that exchange and I have yet to hear back on how we are going to implement this strategy. Nigerians were excited about his response and optimistic about all of Nigeria being powered. Some told me they were praying to God I could help make this happen. Well, I can. I am waiting to hear back from the president. I recognize that he has his road map and as I explained to the president’s people, our plan complements his road map. We just have to do it.

It hasn’t happened yet. And I wonder what we are waiting for! It’s certainly not that the president and the federal government don’t see the benefit to Nigeria. So what is it?

Doing what others have done

The task of delivering electricity to every state in the country is not insurmountable. Yes, it requires money. Yes, it requires resources that would otherwise go elsewhere, but powering all of Nigeria is a necessity for progress. We are not reinventing the wheel here. Nigeria has 160 million people, all sharing 4,400 megawatts of electricity. To put this in perspective, the city of Los Angeles has a population of 4 million people and generates 7,500 megawatts of electricity.

Some would argue that we cannot produce more power because we do not have a sufficient gas supply. Well neither does Japan, but they have electricity. Singapore has overcome the same obstacle to produce electricity and so has South Africa. While Nigeria is debating whether or not power has improved on a generation of only 4,500 megawatts, China has consistently delivered over 6,000 megawatts of power generating plants per month for its people over the last five years. That’s a total of 360,000 megawatts. Even finding power in any city in Nigeria to charge a cell phone is a challenge. I imagine that is one reason Nigerian farmers are insisting on solar powered mobile phones when the federal government offered to give them free mobile phones. No one powers the rural areas.

Our plan entails building power plants across the country. If we anchor the power to each region of the country with an industrial park, each municipality can generate 5-10 megawatts of electricity within 12 months. We can build 7,775 megawatts in months instead of trying to build one huge mega plant which takes 3-5 years. In building these small power plants, we would create jobs right at home that can encourage Nigerian talent to stay in Nigeria. This strategy doesn’t just build power plants and add a handful of jobs. It strengthens Nigeria in the process.

Our plan calls for powering the plants with liquid propane. Propane is something Nigeria has in abundance and it is currently underutilized. Like diesel, propane can be easily and safely transported across the country. There are three main benefits to using propane – accessibility, environmental and price. Propane is much cheaper and cleaner than diesel fuel. And in addition to employing thousands to build these power plants, we will also employ Nigerians to build hundreds of fuel-holding stations across the country. That means Nigerians would have access to propane right in their own communities. They would be able to cook using propane instead of wood or expensive kerosene. Think of the people we can employ, across various skill levels from general laborers to engineers. There will be a need for technical people, builders, welders, transportation workers, truckers, cooking gas cylinder manufacturers, distributors and more. In addition, another one million citizens will gain access to electricity for their daily trading activities including tailors, mechanics, vulcanizers, carpenters, saw mill operators, electricians, dry cleaners and many more professionals.. If each of these small professional entrepreneurs were to employ one Nigerian each in their operations, that’s another one million job opportunities. The advent of these industrial parks and 24/7 electricity will lead to an explosion of growth in each local government with its attendant tax-generating possibilities. Nigeria’s plan to build natural gas pipelines and infrastructure may take another 10-15 years. It takes 3-5 years to build huge power plants. Until then, we must be able to implement smaller plans that can give our people power in the interim.

Power up or step down

I propose a single solution to Nigeria’s power problem. Accountability. No more hand-holding. The federal government needs to dig in its heels and let each state sink or swim based on its own efforts. Nearly two years ago, the federal government announced that each state can generate and even distribute its own electricity. To date, not a single state has taken advantage of this offer. The absence of accountability gives elected officials room to wiggle out of their responsibilities. On the whole, they would much rather blame the federal government for all their problems than to design and implement a plan to move forward. But the people need to know that the reason they do not have access to electricity is because their leader is not fighting hard enough for electricity. The fault doesn’t lie strictly with the federal government.

In another two years, it will once again be election time. This time around, leaders are to be held accountable for their performance (or lack thereof). If state leaders have not made substantive steps toward illuminating their little corner of Nigeria, they should be replaced. We do not lack the manpower or the brain power to perform this task. We lack the organization and leadership. There are Nigerians in the U.S. and Europe and in various places all over the world who are working to build and run power stations. We have everything we need to get this done. All that remains is the doing. And it must be done state by state by state. The federal government will not help Nigeria with this one. At the end of the on-going privatization each state needs to have a plan for long term power infrastructure development.

I am waiting to hear back from our president. He has left his Facebook friend with the 4,000-megawatt plan waiting and hoping. With the privatization now coming to an end, now is the time to arm Nigeria with what it needs – power. Can we count on our president to take responsibility and lead this charge? Or will Nigeria have to rely on private companies who may not have our best interest at heart?

The federal government should propose legislation that gives direct responsibility for power generation, distribution and transmission to the states and local communities. Each state will then be able to assess its own power needs without having to wait for a central authority to plan its future.

Nigeria, time is of essence. Power is wealth. With 24/7 electricity every Nigerian state can create wealth for its people and reduce dependence on monthly federal allocation.

Toyin Dawodu is the founder of followmetoafrica.org and Managing Partner at Capital Investment Group Follow him @1amazingtoyin toyin@capvestgroup.com