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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria(HURIWA), on Thursday, said the electricity power system collapse occurring twice in the national electricity grid within a space of 48 hours this week was a reflection of the final collapse of the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government.
HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, yesterday, said it was unfortunate that despite the campaign promises of the APC in 2015 to provide steady power supply for Nigerians, the government of the President Muhammadu Buhari has failed and compounded the country’s electricity woes.
Onwubiko said despite the billions of naira spent on the power sector by the Buhari government, Nigerians continue to wallow in epileptic power supply and total darkness.
He lamented that the social and economic crises at the moment “are compounded by the twin evils of petrol and electricity power scarcity happening simultaneously and thus crippling the National Economy in what is clearly the agenda of anarchists and saboteurs embedded inside of All Progressives Congress.”
He said, “the collapse of the national grid this week amid petrol scarcity, soaring prices of diesel and aviation fuel, amongst other socio-economic woes is indicative of the total collapse of the All Progressives Congress government which failed to deliver on its campaign promises after deceiving Nigerians.
“As if a coincidence, the ongoing crisis in the APC seals off the collapse of the ruling party.
“Since 2015 that the APC has been in power, billions of dollars have been invested in the power sector yet this government still rehashed the same old reasons for the constant collapse of the national grid. It is plain that the APC deceived Nigerians and there is a lot of corruption in the electricity sector.
“It is embarrassing for a country that has 209.5 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves and is the eighth largest producer in the world to suffer power outages on account of lack of gas to power its thermal power plants.
“The current 1,080MW from solar and 1,936MW from hydro are infinitesimal, given the country’s potential. A mix of energy sources, including wind, solar, hydro, thermal and coal should be explored by the Nigerian Gas Company.
“As usual, the APC government and President Buhari have been making excuses and transferring responsibility to the previous government of the Peoples Democratic Party but Nigerians know certainly that only failures blame others for personal defeat. Aside, seven years is enough time to fix the power sector challenges.
“Last September, the President, having realised his self-defeat and failure in the power sector, sacked the power minister, Sale Mamman, and later appointed Aliyu but the current power minister is no different as the sector is going from bad to worse.
“The President must be made accountable, admits his failures and work with the state governors, the private sector and international development partners to proffer lasting solutions.” Importantly, President Muhammadu Buhari must fish out the familiar foes inside of his political camp because it is clear that these economic collapse are being engineered from inside of the corridors of power in Abuja.”
