By Abdu Labaran Malumfashi.
I am forced to write an article again on the power supplier in the north west, which is the Kano Electric Distribution Company (KEDCO), soon after I wrote on it last week. It is about the fifth time I have written about its poor performance in its chosen assignment for which it ‘purchased’ the right to perform in the north western part of the country.
This time I am writing about the availability of electricity. There is a 24-hour supply of the stuff in Katsina state which is owed to the ongoing two-day meeting on security of the north western states of the federation. I call this an ‘eye service and politics’, because it would last only for the duration of the meeting. And it would be business as usual once the meeting is over.
Power is all over the state because some of the invited VIP’s or those who felt they had to be there, are sons and daughters of the state who would prefer to sleep in their hometowns rather than stay in Katsina city.
However, even the permanent presence of the former President, Muhammadu Buhari in his hometown, Daura, residence is not enough of a reason to make the power supplier live up to its responsibility appreciably, because of the former leader’s known attitude of keeping quiet about some happenings around him.
But the ‘eye service and politics’ in the case of electricity supply is an old tradition which did not start today. It had been there when yours sincerely was in the corridors of power as the spokesman of the then governor. It was just that.
For the eight years I was in office as Senior Special Assistant (SSA) Media during the first term of the governor, and as Director General (DG) Media during the second term, the job was actually done by someone more powerful in the government than this poor and defenceless writer. Where matters of money were concerned, of course. All payments, including advertisements, whether or not they were given by the powerful technocrat, were made by him.
For those who made an ‘enemy’ of this writer because he could not render ‘financial’ assistance or enough of it to them, it is hoped that the ‘confession’ would clear a lot of air on why it happened the way it did.
Even the Press Centre where I supretended and served as the place where my office was located, was not spared of the poor electricity supply whenever there was a gathering of Very Important Persons (VIP) in the government house. The centre’s and the government house clinic’s power supply would be switched off, so as to, allegedly, made for more power for the VIP’s.
Only the magnanimous intervention of Alhaji Wada, who worked in the generator room at the government house, used to save the day for us. There are many witnesses to tell the veracity or otherwise of the allegations I have made on this matter. Most of the witnesses were not government officials for that matter. But this is a topic for another time, anyway.
Sometimes last year there was a sudden regular supply of electricity for three days consecutively, and the power customers began to jubilate, thinking that the power supplier had changed. After the third day, the epileptic electricity supply returned with something of a vengeance.
The real reason for the three-day uninterrupted power supply then became known. The bank, which had loaned the money to the owners of the company that supplied electricity to the north west, allegedly confiscated the ‘service’ and provided it itself, and promised to keep it in its possession pending the time the loan was paid back.
Now, the occasion does not come any bigger, because the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, alias BAT, would be in Katsina at the same time, to perform the laying ceremony of some projects to be executed by the incumbent government in the state.
It is a known fact that, on these shores, the president always travels with a retinue of many aides in his entourage, including some of the sons and daughters of the state so as to bolster his ego, and or improve on the ‘worth’ of the members of the entourage in the eyes of the local people. This gives such people the bragging right to boast of their ‘importance’ in their country’s corridors of power.
Again, one of the many ‘advantages’ of following the president on his tours is the limitless opportunity to ‘enjoy’ what is taken for granted elsewhere, but considered as luxury in Nigeria. Such things of luxury in Nigeria in this age of Information and Computer Technology (ICT) include the constant supply of electricity, among other things.
In such occasions, where VIP’s from all parts of the country are ‘expected’ to be in a given place outside the Federal Capital, some powerful individuals charged with the responsibility of the smooth execution of the event are very likely going to make a big ‘killing’, because they are not known to be anything but ‘smooth operators’. It might not necessarily be to the knowledge of the person on whose table the proverbial buck stops.
Whatever may be the case, we ardently pray and hope that the situation of the supply of electricity would improve even after the gathering and departure of the very important personalities who graced the Katsina occasions.
The prayer and hope come from one and all who pay for the ‘services’ of the electricity ‘providers’, including the so called Band A customers whose tariffs went up by 100% during the not too long ago increase, which has led to the collapse or temporary closure of many manufacturing and other businesses, especially in the northern part of the country.
Malam Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.
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