News
Opinion: Is Corruption to Blame for Nigeria’s Rising Energy Prices?
By Joel Popoola
Nigerians are paying more and more as energy bills, and getting less and less for their money.
The National Bureau of Statistics last week reported that inflation has reached an eye-watering 15.9 per cent, driven in part by rising energy costs.
The NBS figures suggest that electricity, gas and fuel costs are now almost 12.5% higher than it was this time last year.
One recent study has suggested that Nigerians are now paying 68% of their monthly income on utilities.
These price rises come against a backdrop of energy shortages described as “incessant”, even leading to protests in places like Oyero, where one community leader has been quoted as saying:
“They only bring electricity occasionally. We pay these bills, yet we barely get electricity for two hours a day.”
A system collapse of the national electricity grid on April 8 was the third in less than a month and the fifth this year, leaving both Abuja, and Lagos, the largest city in all of Africa, without power.
In less than our decade the grid has failed over 200 times. With our energy system so unreliable, many Nigerians and businesses rely instead on diesel-powered generators. But diesel prices too have more than doubled since the start of the year.
The government is to some extent at the mercy of events. A post-COVID-19 surge in energy demand has placed huge pressure on energy systems across the world. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has made things worse.
But that does not change that fact that in 2018, the World Bank approved $486 million to improve Nigeria’s Electricity Transmission Network and infrastructure.
Can anyone claim that this investment has made much difference?
As always, it is hard not to come to the conclusion that a (literally on this occasion) brighter future for Nigeria has been squandered because of corruption.
That is certainly the view of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), who have called for an investigation into government spending on energy.
The Deputy Director of the group, Kolawole Oluwadare, has claimed that N11 trillion ($26bn) intended for investment in our electricity supply has allegedly been squandered by governments since 1999.
Oluwadare has been quoted as saying: “Nigerians have for far too long been denied justice, and the opportunity to get to the bottom of why they continue to pay the price for corruption in the electricity sector, staying in darkness, but still made to pay crazy electricity bills.
“The staggering amounts of public funds alleged to have been stolen over the years in the electricity sector have had catastrophic effects on the lives of millions of Nigerians, akin to crimes against humanity and the Nigerian people.”
If just a fraction of that N11 trillion had been spent on improving the resilience of our energy network and increasing domestic energy production with an emphasis on renewable sources like solar power.
And even if that figure is inaccurate, it will feel accurate to most Nigerians who have little faith in our democratic institutions. That needs to change.
SERAP has requested publication of the names of companies and contractors paid by government since 1999 to carry out electricity projects across the country. This is exactly the kind of transparency our democracy needs, and digital technology makes it easy to achieve.
The digital democracy campaign I lead is attempting to improve democratic transparency with technology.
One of our projects is a free smartphone app called Rate Your Leader, which puts politicians and the people they elect in direct person-to-person contact. Think of it as being friends on Facebook with your local representative, except that unlike other social media platforms, Rate Your Leader insists both sides can prove they are who they say they are, and makes abusive communication impossible.
Rate Your Leader creates a direct line between electors and elected, helping both sides better understand each other, and collaborate to make our communities better. It encourages politicians to do everything out in the open, and rewards them in the form of positive feedback and ratings from the people they serve, improving their reputation amongst their contacts, friends, peers and neighbours – the people whose opinions they trust the most.
Building trust in the political process has to start person-to-person, and politician to voter. And digital technology can deliver that change at the touch of a button.
Both corruption and energy security must be at the heart of the 2023 presidential election campaign.
Candidates must heed the call of business leader, Tony Elumelu, who has called for energy to be a central plank of election manifestos, stating “Elections are coming – security and resources need to be everyone’s agenda – let’s be vocal for our nation’s priority.”
Voters need to be clear that this is their priority. And leaders need to listen.
Joel Popoola is a Nigerian tech entrepreneur, digital democracy campaigner and creator of the Rate Your Leader mobile app.
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
The importance of timing cannot be overemphasized. Timing is everything in life. It is critical to one’s success. You can lose your money and get it back in many folds. You can even lose your health and get it back all things being equal, but when you lose time, you can hardly get it back again.
The importance of timing can be seen in crops. Every crop has a season, a good farmer won’t plant maize when it’s time for oranges, nor will he plant pears when it’s the season for mangoes.
Time is very instrumental to the success and failure of anyone. Imagine having a meeting or interview at 9:00am and you arrive at 10:10am, it will take the grace of God to be interviewed. As an employee, apart from one not being able to diligently do his job, one of the fastest ways for an employee to lose his job is by being late to work.
When I was in New York Law School studying Taxation law, I did a course titled, the Problem of Timing. During the semester, I learnt about cash and accrued income. Let me do some academic exercise here. In cash income, just like the name entails, one is paid in cash as soon as the work is completed. It’s just like going to the market to make a purchase. One can either pay directly with cash or with debit or credit card. But Accrued income refers to revenue a company has earned by providing goods or services, but for which payment has not yet been received, one will have to do the work first before getting paid. This is applicable when one works in either a public or private organization where one is paid either weekly, bi-weekly or at the end of the month depending on the stipulated mode of payment.
It’s important to note that before the money is paid either in cash or accrued, one would have earned it. It’s just like one learning g before earning, and one will have to update to upgrade. These are just the practical principles that will work with life.
In the same way, in life there’s a seed time and harvest time. It’s a universal principle of life. Whether as a parent, entrepreneur, student or employee. As a parent, if you don’t train your kids very well, they will grow up to reflect the opposite of what you desire. As an entrepreneur when you invest in your business, you will get the reward in due time. As a student, if you take your studies seriously, your grades will improve, and as an employee, you stand to get promotions and opportunities when you add value to your work. In summary, one will have to put in the work before recognition comes on.
To understand how seedtime and harvest work, imagine where parents tend to like one child more than others just because they see potential in him, or he’s smart, hardworking or even creative. They fail to understand that every child is different and as such their timing can be different. Some kinds take time to develop.
I personally believe there’s something so unique about each individual which God has deposited in everyone of us. It’s just a matter of time for it to manifest. Your timing of manifestation is different from your siblings and colleagues.
Personally, I didn’t mature fast with my contemporaries. Overtime, I have seen much improvement in my personal and professional life. Maybe because I have added value to my work with the assistance of mentors and good friends, or God had to humble my colleagues and mentors . Why do I say this? During my formative years, I had little or nothing to show for it. I was looking at my contemporaries as mentor and seeing my mentors as small gods whose feat is unattainable, but now, the reverse seems to be case as I have developed capacity some of my colleagues are yet to attain, while I have even surpassed the achievement of my some of my mentors in some quarters.
In all these, they are all surprised how it happened. Some are yet to comprehend or articulate the feat. It’s just like watching a film where everyone slept and woke up to see the game and tides have changed. The secret behind it is the seed time and harvest time. I was probably learning the trade while in the wilderness, and when the training season matured and ripe enough to be harvested, I became attractive to almost everyone who loved the seed I was producing.
There are litany of examples of people, who have been in the wilderness during the seed planting season. Let’s take a case study of Joseph in the Bible, his journey to stardom took a little twist. Despite the travails he experienced in the hands of his siblings who sold him, his experience while in the jail, and with Portiphar’s wife, who tried to seduce him; they were all set ups for success. The moral here is Joseph seed time and harvest time was quite different, it wasn’t a smooth journey. Ordinarily, one would have cursed his siblings or his friends who were with him in prison and forgot him after they were released. But at the end of time, everything worked out for his favor. Joseph’s seed days were his dark days while in the wilderness.
Another inspiring story of note was that of Pastor Ibukun Awosika, the former board Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria. She once shared a pathetic story during her formative years of being in business. According to her, she sojourned for about 15 years. She cried because lines were not adding up for her and she wouldn’t do what her contemporaries were doing to get opportunities. At a point in her business, it appeared like she was in a race of own life because everything seemed to be against her, but at the appropriate time, lines began to fall in place for her. Appointments, business opportunities, favours and goodwill began to fall in place for her. Again, she had a fair share of seed time.
An interesting question I would like to ask you is, what’s your seed time? Have you ever been in the wilderness when you appeared to be fixed? It’s unfortunate many people are not willing to pass through the storms or experience seeds and harvest time. Amidst all these, one must do some work before they get opportunities. However, before such opportunities will come up, one will have to plant the seed.
In conclusion, seed time and harvest time is critical in the journey of life. Take a seat and determine what seed you would like to sow and what you’ll like to harvest.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design Your and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
By Eric Elezuo
The Senate has suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghen for six months over her sexual harassment accusation and other disputes against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The Senate also withdrew her salaries for the period of the suspension, as well as her security details.
The chamber however, soft-pedaled on the salaries and allowances of her aides, who it was argued would not have any source of livelihood within the period.
Globacom is welcoming new customers on its network with the introduction of the e-SIM. The e-SIM activated in any Gloworld shop or Dealer outlet comes with an introductory free 5GB data when the customer buys a data plan of N1,500 or more.
Customers already on other networks can now join the Glo network with e-SIM as an additional SIM. Existing Glo customers can also enjoy this “SIM-less” freedom.
With the e-SIM, customers no longer have to worry about space for a physical SIM on their phones. The e-SIM is a software-based digital chip built directly into smartphones or wearable devices, thus eliminating the need for a physical SIM card for customers.
The use of e-SIM enables customers to have seamless switching between phone numbers without a physical SIM. It is ideal for upwardly mobile people who travel frequently. The e-SIM also guarantees security, as unlike physical SIM, it is harder to remove from devices. It is also eco-friendly and reduces plastic waste.
Globacom’s launch of the e-SIM enables enables it to cater to high-net-worth individuals and enterprise customers, and it also reinforces the company’s commitment to providing seamless and future-ready services to its customers.
A customer seeking to activate the Glo e-SIM needs to check the compatibility of the mobile handset by dialling *#06# on his or her phone. If an EID number reflects on the mobile screen, the device is e-SIM compatible.
“The customer can then proceed to the nearest Gloworld shop or Glo Dealer outlet to migrate to e-SIM. The process takes only a few minutes and the customer can thereafter begin to enjoy the use of an e-SIM”, the Marketing Department disclosed.
