Posted by From GODWIN TSA Abuja on
The Action Congress (AC) has called for urgent measures to ameliorate the worsening power situation in the country, saying Nigerians are suffering untold and unprecedented hardship as a result of the worst power situation in the country in a long time.
The Action Congress (AC) has called for urgent measures to ameliorate the worsening power situation in the country, saying Nigerians are suffering untold and unprecedented hardship as a result of the worst power situation in the country in a long time.
'Statistics are hard to come by, but we are sure that the current situation, in which less than 1,000MW of electricity is being generated for a population of 140 million, is the lowest this country has experienced," the party said in a statement issued in Abuja Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
'It is even more painful that this situation came after the PDP-led federal government has poured over US$16 billion into the power sector in the past eight years. In essence, the huge sum of money was spent to reduce the power generation from 1,700MW in 1999 to far less than 1,000MW now.
'While there is a myriad of reasons why Nigeria has reached this sorry pass, the immediate one is Yar'Adua's administration's failure to honour its campaign promise of making the power situation the utmost priority by declaring a state of emergency in that sector. Of course, we recollect that power and energy top Yar'Adua's seven-point agenda," the party said.
AC said the lack of electricity across the country has worsened crime, threatened businesses - particularly small businesses - and forced many Nigerians to spend less time at home just to avoid the inconveniences that come with lack of electricity.
The party said that to make matters worse, the price of diesel which many rely on to power their generators - has doubled from 70 naira last year to 140 naira now.
On the way forward, AC recalls its recent advice to the Yar'Adua administration not to abandon the IPPs, even while the House of Representatives looks into how the huge funds sunk into the projects by the past government were spent.
It also called on the federal government to speedily and thoroughly address the Niger Delta crisis, saying even if the IPPs are completed, there will be no guarantee that the gas to power them will flow uninterrupted from the Niger Delta in view of the growing violence in the region.
'A stable power supply is intricately linked to peace in the Niger Delta region. It is therefore imperative for the government to go beyond mere promises and concretely address the Niger Delta crisis," the party said.
As an immediate step, AC called on the Yar'Adua administration to provide subsidy to every house, every business concern, perhaps with funds from the excess crude oil account, to ameliorate the suffering in the land as a result of lack of electricity.