KAINJI AND JEBBA DAMS IN MY KITCHEN: Ever since Barth Nnaji was booted out as Minister of Power, I kept delaying the need to write something about the power situation in the country and the scandalous entity that is the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). Well, I am furiously writing this now because I just received another crazy bill from the PHEDC and my patience suddenly turned into anger, shock, disappointment and anguish. To bring the gist closer home, my monthly PHCN bills have remained on a steady rise since Barth Nnaji bowed out; under Barth as Minister of Power, I enjoyed a substantial amount of power supply sold at N22 per khz. Incidentally, Professor Nnaji’s efforts at sanitizing the industry ruffled some feathers, feathers that apparently benefit from the rot in the system, and he was sacked immediately. Ever since then, power supply has nose-dived and the bills more erratic and shocking-literally and otherwise. From Port Harcourt, rivers state where I live to ULI, my home town, the story is the same; power supply has dropped outrageously, while the bills keeps rising, and rising, and rising! Welcome to the era of “estimated billing”-a period of time where evil-minded PHCN officials sit down in their ramshackle offices and concoct very demonic and weird bills just to jolt us hapless Nigerians to our early graves. Gone are the days when NEPA officials went round the entire neighborhood reading meters and billing accordingly. The level of evil and wicked customer service orientation at play in PHCN is daily peaking (especially in Rupuokwu Business Office,mean criminals), marketing officials do not go out to read customers’ meters anymore, why bother when you can sit in bar somewhere in GRA, drink as many bottles of beer as possible and conjure crazy bills? That is the practice now-I was shocked last month when a marketing Manager in Rupuokwu office insisted my meter was read and my bills correct! This was after I proved to the evil-looking Manager that there was no power supply to my entire neighborhood for 4 weeks as a result of a faulty transformer. Have you also wondered why it is now easier to find a saint in the PDP than to acquire a “pre-paid meter” from PHCN? Well, in the beginning, it appeared to be easy getting the meter but suddenly, the PHCN in their bizarre way found out they were losing money rather too fast and decided to put a stop to the “pre-paid” madness. You now hear all sorts of stories if you dare ask for the meter. As a consumer, you only pay for power supplied, and because most times, PHCN prefers holding on to power, you will not be required to pay, and there won’t be any case of “estimated-billing”! So, it now makes more business sense making pre-paid meters unavailable and charge customers wickedly, than allow them enjoy “pay-as-you-use” services. PHCN’s philosophy remains “pay now and complain later”. From my investigations, I gathered that power supplied to any disco must be paid for irrespective of the technical losses encountered in the course of transmission. Now, distribution companies charge customers for power not supplied or consumed just to meet up with their share of the already projected revenue. I challenge Dr Sam Amadi of NERC or any PHCN official to stand up and deny this. This is the story all over Nigeria and our government is playing the ostrich and yapping about transformation…what bloody transformation are we talking about when the entire nation is in darkness? This is the height of wickedness; when the cost of electricity was hiked by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2012, he swore that there was a subsidy in place to cushion the shocking effects of the increase. What do we have today in Nigeria? A situation where the government sinfully continue to add money for fuel and generators in its budget while blowing hot air about revamping the power sector- well, the only revamping I see in the sector is a pocketful of cronies of the government smiling to the bank while we continue to thank China for the power generators in our homes. I sincerely believe that PHCN or whatever new names they registered with CAC has violated every Nigerian (except those super-rich politicians and oil subsidy thieves) and we really must rise up in protest against the government that has hung this evil entity round our necks. When are we going to get tired of being treated as slaves in our country? When are we going to start holding people accountable for their actions in Nigeria? The PHCN/darkness as constituted remains an evil force militating against the attainment of a “darkness-free” Nigeria. The staffs of PHCN/darkness are over-paid and underutilised; most of them have become both obsolete and archaic-they have nothing to offer. Just like their equipment. I am really tired of hearing how many billions were spent in one power project or the other; I need to see the results. What rational explanation will the PDP give this country for wasting more than $25 billion on “power generation” with nothing to show for it (well we have a few billionaires, govt officials all)? Like Pius Adesanmi rightly said, “my mumu don do”. I will not take this nonsense anymore! Henceforth, I will do all within my power to ensure that we kick out the PDP! Enough of this stealing and insults! NB:Incase You Missed it, President Jonathans CNN interview with Amanpour If you are still searching for reasons why our President could not look straight into CNN’s camera on his bland interview with Christine Amanpour, look no further-The President knew he was being economical with the truth and his conscience couldn’t let him look into the probing cold camera Written by my friend Enzo and so true!!! PHCN,NEPA or whatever distrivution they call themselves are thieving killers! They suck!!!
Posted on: Fri, 16 May 2014 19:37:50 +0000
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