“How can you be celebrating & people are dying? You have ruined people’s lives & you are celebrating & people are watching it on TV. To tell you how bad Nigeria has gone, in 1980, Nigeria as a country had a foreign reserve of $10.5 billion, China had $10B, South Korea $3B. Today both countries have gone far ahead of Nigeria.”
~Peter Obi
Nigeria generates less than 4,000 megawatts for 200 million people. South Africa generates 58,000 for 60 million. Ghana has 86% of its people on the grid. Nigeria has 85 million citizens who have never seen NEPA light in their lives.
The grid collapsed twice in January alone. Generation dropped from 4,000 megawatts to zero. Not low. Zero. All 23 power plants. All 11 distribution companies. Total darkness in the middle of the afternoon. Four days later it happened again.
Meanwhile Nigerians spend an estimated 16 trillion naira a year fueling generators. And the same government that cannot keep your lights on spent 17 billion naira to install solar panels at Aso Rock so the Presidential Villa can disconnect from the national grid entirely by March 2026. The President of Nigeria is leaving the grid. The same grid he is telling you to trust.
So when someone tells you to just buy solar, remember that a basic setup starts at 500,000 naira and the minimum wage is 70,000. The problem was never solar versus generator. The problem is a country with 13,000 megawatts of installed capacity that cannot deliver 5,000 on its best day because the people in charge already have light in their own house and have no reason to fix yours.
I cancel every spirit of near success syndrome in my life.
From today, I will not stop halfway,
I will complete what I start,
and I will enjoy full success.
Ameen!
I’m genuinely confused.
So after the inflation.
After the kidnappings.
After months of no light.
After tax and fuel hikes.
After terrible healthcare.
After salaries can’t even keep up with feeding.
Election Day comes then:
You dress up, You leave your house, You queue under the hot sun, You vote for the same person again.
You are not normal.
Tell me if I’m wrong.