THE anger and frustration on Adelana Martins’ face are unmistakable – there is a power outage just about the time he wants to iron his clothes.

The power failure has thwarted his plan to appear at work by 2 pm in crispy uniform. Yet, he dares not appear in office in mufti, and he cannot be absent from duty without prior notice or a genuine reason.

Martins, 47, and a resident of Igbusi community of Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State, like many others in the community agonize daily on the epileptic power supply from the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC).

IBEDC is one of the eleven private companies licensed by the Nigerian Government to distribute power to customers since the privatisation of what used to be Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in September 2013.

He was visibly agitated not only about the epileptic power supply in his community but also the ‘crazy bills’ that IBEDC charges even for the poor service.

“We have not had light for two hours in the last 24 hours and we don’t even know when next they would restore it,” Martins says, as he looks forlorn at his wrinkled uniform on a pressing table.

“It can be like this for the next three days, yet they would bring a humongous bill for us to settle at the end of the month,” he adds.

Nigeria currently generates about 4000MW which is insufficient for the consumption of about 200million of its population. According to USAID in a report, Nigeria, the largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to generate 12,522 megawatts (MW) of electric power from existing plants because of its huge endowment in oil, gas, hydro and solar resources.

Martins and other residents in his shoes pay as much as N10,000 estimated bills at the end of every month for electricity supply, which according to him, they “never enjoyed.”

“We only pay for darkness,” he says.

Like Martins, Folarin Gbadamosi , who runs a barbing shop in Oke-Ijebu area of Akure, Ondo State, southwest Nigeria decries the high power bill that does not reflect the electricity consumption in his area.

“They only give us power for about four hours out of the 24 hours in a day, yet we pay N8,000 bill every month,” Gbadamosi laments.

The alternative power source which is a small generating set known among locals as “I pass my neighbour” is also not sustainable because of the daily cost of fuelling it. The dismal supply of electricity in the area threatens the survival of his barbing business.

“This electricity no longer favours me, I will soon disconnect myself from it to concentrate on powering my shop with a generator, says the barber angrily “

Tariffs amidst poor power generation, distribution and COVID-19 pandemic

Power generation and distribution have been two major challenges confronting Nigeria’s power sector, despite being the largest economy in Africa. Its generation has not gone beyond 4,000MW while poor distribution is the reason the government cited recently to announce tariffs hike.

READ MORE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/special-report-in-nigeria-citizens-pay-more-for-darkness-than-electricity/

Nigerians go run next time if dey hear d word change. abeg were those way b dey say somebody body language done give us 24/7 hours light, OK. make I shut up, hope no hate speech for my write up