SLAP44:
10 points to note about this topic.

1. Onyemekukwe was a trained expert on electrical matters

2. He designed Nigerian electrical grid and was instrumental to running it till the war broke out

3. He must have fled Lagos like others

4. When he returned, his position has been given to one of those who won the war

5. The person who took his position might be a mediocre quota system figure head who is just occupying the position just because they won the war.

6. Electricity expansion and maintenance took a nose dive as the winner of the war took all money making positions and milked the nation dry.

7. Onyemekukwe got frustrated and left to form his own private company after the war, later got fed up as Nigeria continued to die in instalments, so he relocated abroad to allow Nigeria to die very well.

8. Till today Nigerian electricity is still wallowing in the wilderness with zero hope in sight.

9. Till we find good people that will forgive Nigeria and work with their whole energy and God given talents, Nigeria will continue to descend to Yemen levels.

10. That is the story of Nigeria.

My broda flesh & blood did not reveal this to you biko! We can never get it right in dis country as long as mediocrity is exalted above merit. Shey a certain DG of Research has given 'kilishi' as the agency’s breakthrough? Next breakthrough will be brown polish!!

kikero:


The DISCOS aren't necessarily a monopoly...plus NEPA was one, and yet..

Softdrink is not a monopoly in Nigeria. Why? Anywhere you are, you have options to choose from.

Data and Phonecalls are not a monopoly in Nigeria. Why? Anywhere you are, you have options to choose from.

Now, if you live in Abuja, what options apart from generators do you have apart from AEDC. If you are in Ibadan, do you have any other choice apart from IBDC?

kikero:

When they are having their prices controlled by government? Alright economist....tell me what happens when governemnt controls prices of everything?

Even in USA, there is price control on food, electricity, water etc. Companies cannot just set new prices without presenting a verifiable reason for such

kikero:

You got $900billion lying around to spare? Over the next 30 years. (Our budget for this year was $26billion).

I don't understand this.

kikero:
.

Well, EDF France made a profit of $5.6billion euros in 2019. Power companies have to make a profit somehow.



And I am telling you that 1) they experienced delays in collecting money from government 2) they need far more. One estimate is $900billion over the next 30 years...



And here in Nigeria, people do illegal connections. Many people enjoy power without paying for it. And when the DISCOS go to stop them, their workers get beaten up and chased away.



And Nigeria is not collecting enough in taxes. Our tax to gdp ratio is 5.8%, Ghana is 14%, South Africa is 23%. We rely solely on oil.(There is a reason why Fowler was sacked...and it wasn't jsut for politics. )

Fair enough!

Profit driven ... meaning the company will do everything possible to maximize its profit. Yes... the companies will make profit but their charges to the consumers would be controlled by the authorities. E.g... in NY the company wanted to raise money to upgrade... they were allowed to raise tariffs by a certain amount.... then had to cut back when the amount was reached. Same with the Postal.Service... they were allowed to raise the price of postage stamps by one cent.... then had to reduce by one cent when the money was raised.

$900 billion over the next 30 years. Really?... and you believe that is so? Whoever proposed that need to be stoned to death.

Illegal connections are worldwide.... companies have various methods of minimizing such. If a worker is sent to disconnect.... and is met with hostility at the address or the community then there shouod be a Plan B. I guess they have no alternatives.

Nigeria is not collecting enough in taxes.... same problem. Lack of will... or a Plan B when people refuse to pay. Other countries run smoothly... not because the people are cooperative and understanding... but because of the consequences if they do not toe the line.

SLAP44:
10 points to note about this topic.

1. Onyemekukwe was a trained expert on electrical matters

2. He designed Nigerian electrical grid and was instrumental to running it till the war broke out

3. He must have fled Lagos like others

4. When he returned, his position has been given to one of those who won the war

5. The person who took his position might be a mediocre quota system figure head who is just occupying the position just because they won the war.

6. Electricity expansion and maintenance took a nose dive as the winner of the war took all money making positions and milked the nation dry.

7. Onyemekukwe got frustrated and left to form his own private company after the war, later got fed up as Nigeria continued to die in instalments, so he relocated abroad to allow Nigeria to die very well.

8. Till today Nigerian electricity is still wallowing in the wilderness with zero hope in sight.

9. Till we find good people that will forgive Nigeria and work with their whole energy and God given talents, Nigeria will continue to descend to Yemen levels.

10. That is the story of Nigeria.

My Opinion on the story.

As at that time, his region in Nigeria couldnt boast of having more educated personalities than other regions in southern Nigeria, yet they got all those positions like his own, Vice Chancellor of UI, Unilag, heads of Federal Government parastatals among others not because of ingenuity but the alliance of NPC and NCNC. If you look at it clinically and you want to be sincere with yourself, the region that was ostraciced by the coalition government of NPC and NCNC did better than the other two regions who run the central government. If this people are superhuman like you always claim, then their home region then should have reflected class but this was not the case. They got those appointments not because then they were better than other people, rather as a result of nepotism and marginalisation that their descendants are crying about today which was however, initiated by their fathers.

Rip

kikero:


Well, we weren't. The issue is, we choose resoruce dependency over industrial and educaitonal development.

It's far easy to sell and import stuff, than it is to make the same stuff.

That is the characteristics of immaturity. Wrong choices based on temporal and immediate gratification. We were immature. We didn't know what we wanted to do with freedom.

kikero:

1.They won't have been. Plus, the roads would have existed for getting goods to the port, and won't have integrated us with other parts of Africa.

(Colonialism was bad in some ways. For instance, at independence, if you wanted to make a call from Lagos to Abidjan, the call had to go through exchanges in Paris and London. Now, they don't).

2.I got water from waterworks as recently as 2019...before moving to house with borehole.

Do you think fire hydrants exist in our cities in Nigeria? Have you seen any?

Has Nigeria equalled the km of railway lines the British left for us?
How come our Groundnut pyramids, coal mines and rubber industries died as soon as the British left?
If the British were still around now, do you think our GSM would have a switching center in London?

Don't forget that the British came for their own economy not to develop us. The development we got was just a by-product of their economic activities.

Up till now, we still as a government act like immature, shortsighted and myopic leadership with no plan for anything other than to SPEND MONEY!

kikero:


Most of the grid was expanded in the 1970's...after the war.

Also the reason why our power system does not work is simple. We run it as a socialist enterprise, not as a capitalist enterprise.

Look at GSM. When GSM came to Nigeria, Obasanjo allowed them to exploit us well well. They came, and they charged us heavily for phone call, and bad service (I can recall when I got a repeated call from Lagos from a number I knew not between 9-10 pm in 2004...when I was trying to study for heaven's sake!)..and used the money to build up our structures.

Meanwhile for power, we 1) put it under government control from the word go. 2) charged bills that were kept low for the masses 3) overexpanded the grid for political purposes (people in the rural areas got power) 4) and then most Nigerians refused to pay for power. Between the polticiasation of power, and the fact that it was being not run as a profit making enterprise, the amount of cash needed to make things better wasn't enough.

Infact today, power is not run as a profit making enterprise. Discos and Gencos cannot set prices, prices are set by NBET....which means that all the DISCOS have been losing money since 2014. (and one even gave up in 2018...because they could no longer run at a loss). The grid is overexpanded. Banks and other financing angencies cannot give loans to the power sector. People are refusing to pay for power.

Yes, maybe we should have kept the man in office...but he won't have guaranteed power. The same problems would have happened, because power in Nigeria is not run for profit, and because Nigerians expect power for free.

Modified...

Thanks for all the replies.

From the replies, people are convinced that power should be 'very cheap' in Nigeria. The problem is, we are not earning enough from oil (and agriculture is not a potential money maker, no matter what people try to tell you)...so the only way to earn money for the power sector is by running it like a business.

Also, we need lots of money (one estimate put it at $900billion over 30 years...that's 30billion a year on power. Meanwhile our budget this year isn't even up to that). That's why we have to remove any price controls.

Before you abuse me, I should mention I lean socialist. I wish we could pay as low as N1000 per month for power, and N30 per liter for fuel. But that's not possible. DISCOS and GENCOS are private companies that employ thousands of Nigerians and if we don't pay enough for power, they won't have the money to make things better, and even pay their staff.

(Disclaimer=I don't work for the DISCOS or GENCOS. Until 3 years ago, I was paying estimated billing)

Your type is rare in Nigeria....but i doubt if they will even reason with you...

A life well-lived. He made his mark and moved higher

post=90971241:
Engineer onyemelukwe is the owner of Colechurch of International Ltd ,he is from Nanaka , Anambra state, his son, China Danfort onyemelukwe,one of the most prominent and important investment banker in Europe.

Today, Colechurch is active in 32 countries worldwide and has head office in London and a sub-head office in the US.

The group has an asset base of about $300m and annual turnover last year was $125m while this year’s is expected to be $140m. The staff strength worldwide is 1,800.
Onyemelukwe has an impressive and perhaps, intimidating profile. He bagged an Engineering degree in 1956, from the University of Leeds and an Economics degree of London University in 1960. He has written and lectured widely on the power industry, economic development and growth.

His brothers were late bishop onyemelukwe and prof onyemelukwe.

Their family is a formidable family in nanka. From enugwu- nanka. Enugwu nanka is not called small London for nothing. Very intimidating village. So stinkingly rich. Their only shortfall is the ugwu. It's really hilly.

MENELIIK:



My Opinion on the story.

As at that time, his region in Nigeria couldnt boast of having more educated personalities than other regions in southern Nigeria, yet they got all those positions like his own, Vice Chancellor of UI, Unilag, heads of Federal Government parastatals among others not because of ingenuity but the alliance of NPC and NCNC. If you look at it clinically and you want to be sincere with yourself, the region that was ostraciced by the coalition government of NPC and NCNC did better than the other two regions who run the central government. If this people are superhuman like you always claim, then their home region then should have reflected class but this was not the case. They got those appointments not because then they were better than other people, rather as a result of nepotism and marginalisation that their descendants are crying about today which was however, initiated by their fathers.

Education came to west first, before East, but when Igbos embraced education, they started studing hard professional courses unlike Yorubas that went for the easy way out, even today Igbos study more professional courses in Universities than Yorubas, go and check states that top in students that are studing Engineering, Medicine, Law, Pharmacy in Universities in Nigeria

post=90976784:

Education came to west first, before East, but when Igbos embraced education, they started studing hard professional courses unlike Yorubas that went for the easy way out, even today Igbos study more professional courses in Universities than Yorubas, go and check states that top in students that are studing Engineering, Medicine, Law, Pharmacy in Universities in Nigeria

You did not counter my claim that nepotism was responsible for the appointments and not merit. Now, to the point you raised, can you avail of the research result with which you derive that conclusion that Yorubas study simple courses as compared with Igbos because even those you listed above, Yoruba has a good percentage of the people calling the shots there.

Maybe, he will be buried abroad because of covid 19 as I know he wouldn't want that.
Rest well great man. We will miss you.

FrMbaka:

You would be their slave

Nah Iont think so, for me I think we gained independence too early.
Just like we were given a car to drive while were still kids

kikero:


The cities would be well developed, but the rural areas won't be well developed.

Also, there would be mass segregration, and disporprotionate spending on white settlers vs black settlers. Roads won't reach everywhere, and getting a hosptial in your region would involve a trip to the Colonial office in London.

Inasmuch as Nigeria could be better, I'm happy we got indepenedience. We are not developed because we are a resource dependent country, and we have refused to1) do the hard work to be an industrial economy 2) refused to charge high enough taxes. 3) run power , and oil and many other sectors as 'non profit making ventures'.

TruE buh all the same we wouldn't be in this very level

kenigwe18:


TruE buh all the same we wouldn't be in this very level

Development is worked for.

No one is going to come and dash you goodies.

Lamanii22:

All these black girls with sharkara go just dey mellow

chuxyfranklin:


Your analogy sef get comma.

So because some people don't know George Orwell or have never read Animal farm means they're not intelligent enough?

What are you even saying? I am talking about a room full of youths and is it not scandalous that not even a single one of them knows a book as relevant and as commonplace as Animal Farm? Not one! What are you defending here? Besides it doesn't mean they are not intelligent enough- show me where I said that. It simply means they are paying more attention to bullshitt than serious stuff, unless in your opinion, reading is not serious stuff.

chuxyfranklin:

Do you know the number of books they've read that you've never read? Or the number of Authors they know that you don't?

You are right here. They had probably read more erotic literature than I have.

chuxyfranklin:

If your generation was any better, Nigeria wouldn't have been in this irredeemable state that it currently is.

It will shock you that I belong to the same generation as you. You failed to identify the veiled sarcasm in my original post in response to the sarcastic post I quoted.

chuxyfranklin:

The bulk of politicians stealing and running the country dry are from your so called "Enlightened Generation", so what on earth are you trying to insinuate?

People who don't read would definitely make worse politicians than the present thieves.

post=90971241:
Engineer onyemelukwe is the owner of Colechurch of International Ltd ,he is from Nanaka , Anambra state, his son, China Danfort onyemelukwe,one of the most prominent and important investment banker in Europe.

Today, Colechurch is active in 32 countries worldwide and has head office in London and a sub-head office in the US.

The group has an asset base of about $300m and annual turnover last year was $125m while this year’s is expected to be $140m. The staff strength worldwide is 1,800.
Onyemelukwe has an impressive and perhaps, intimidating profile. He bagged an Engineering degree in 1956, from the University of Leeds and an Economics degree of London University in 1960. He has written and lectured widely on the power industry, economic development and growth.

It is actually Nanka not "Nanaka". Nanka is in Orumba north lga of anambra state.

kikero:


Development is worked for.

No one is going to come and dash you goodies.

And do you think we can attain development with these present government??

One thing I know for sure is corruption can never cease up there.... It worsen every blessed day.
So it won't be bad to wish we hadn't gain independence at least we would have valued our freedom and learnt and to govern ourselves the hard way.

Invest in your KIDS. I'm blown away

kikero:


Well, he probably was the first Nigerian chief electrical officer of the ECN. which while an important post, does not mean he was the 'father of electricity in Nigeria' as he did not originate electriticy in Nigeria, or invent electricty in Nigeria.

Good morning.

U and I know that being a father of something doesn't mean u invented or discovered something but more of that u set something off.
Would u say the father of modern nigeria or the father if democracy in Nigeria discovered nigeria or discovered democracy?

Father of electricity, do we have electricity or darkness in Nigeria?

blowjohn:


U and I know that being a father of something doesn't mean u invented or discovered something but more of that u set something off.
Would u say the father of modern nigeria or the father if democracy in Nigeria discovered nigeria or discovered democracy?

Good morning

post=90971241:
Engineer onyemelukwe is the owner of Colechurch of International Ltd ,he is from Nanaka , Anambra state, his son, China Danfort onyemelukwe,one of the most prominent and important investment banker in Europe.

Today, Colechurch is active in 32 countries worldwide and has head office in London and a sub-head office in the US.

The group has an asset base of about $300m and annual turnover last year was $125m while this year’s is expected to be $140m. The staff strength worldwide is 1,800.
Onyemelukwe has an impressive and perhaps, intimidating profile. He bagged an Engineering degree in 1956, from the University of Leeds and an Economics degree of London University in 1960. He has written and lectured widely on the power industry, economic development and growth.

Do you know if his town of Nanaka and his state of Anambra have stable electricity from the national grid, like they have elsewhere

post=90971241:
Engineer onyemelukwe is the owner of Colechurch of International Ltd ,he is from Nanaka , Anambra state, his son, China Danfort onyemelukwe,one of the most prominent and important investment banker in Europe.

Today, Colechurch is active in 32 countries worldwide and has head office in London and a sub-head office in the US.

The group has an asset base of about $300m and annual turnover last year was $125m while this year’s is expected to be $140m. The staff strength worldwide is 1,800.
Onyemelukwe has an impressive and perhaps, intimidating profile. He bagged an Engineering degree in 1956, from the University of Leeds and an Economics degree of London University in 1960. He has written and lectured widely on the power industry, economic development and growth.

Igbo amaka. I'm waiting for those northern bigots that has not contributed anything to the fabric of this nation to come and talk nonsense

seguno2:


Do you know if his town of Nanaka and his state of Anambra have stable electricity from the national grid, like they have elsewhere

If they don't have steady power is it his fault?

MENELIIK:


You did not counter my claim that nepotism was responsible for the appointments and not merit. Now, to the point you raised, can you avail of the research result with which you derive that conclusion that Yorubas study simple courses as compared with Igbos because even those you listed above, Yoruba has a good percentage of the people calling the shots there.

here's the proof.. What else do you have to say? After reading that excerpt you will curse your Lagos/Ibadan media that has been feeding you nonsense and never believe anything that comes from them again

Totosweetdie:

If they don't have steady power is it his fault?

For someone with a name like yours, where do I start the explanation from, so that you will get it

obaaderemi:
What are you even saying? I am talking about a room full of youths and is it not scandalous that not even a single one of them knows a book as relevant and as commonplace as Animal Farm? Not one! What are you defending here? Besides it doesn't mean they are not intelligent enough- show me where I said that. It simply means they are paying more attention to bullshitt than serious stuff, unless in your opinion, reading is not serious stuff.
You are right here. They had probably read more erotic literature than I have.
It will shock you that I belong to the same generation as you. You failed to identify the veiled sarcasm in my original post in response to the sarcastic post I quoted.
People who don't read would definitely make worse politicians than the present thieves.

There's little or no correlation between reading and becoming a good leader.

Apawicked:
here's the proof.. Whatelse do you have to say

You did not give me a statistical evidence of your claim that Igbo people study difficult courses. What i saw was rather an extract from a publication of somebody eulogising the Igbos for reasons best known to him

He is industrious and his initiative to power Nigerians with electricity is great and also commendable, may he rest on.

Meanwhile do you know you can pay for your cable TV subscription, purchase data, and check statement of your account simply with GTBank USSD code *737#.

It's safe, fast and convenient.

Igbo Amaka .. .

The most industrious black tribe on the planet earth. ..

God bless Ndi Igbo
..
RIP to the " father of Nigerian Electricity "