Several months after PHCN was cannibalized and parceled among highly connected persons in breach of section 16(1) (c ) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, and with darkness being generated everywhere by the so-called successor companies all over the country, we can now claim undoubted vindication that the plan and purpose of privatizing the corporation was not to generate light but to snatch our collective inheritance at give-away prices.
Several months after PHCN was cannibalized and parceled among highly connected persons in breach of section 16(1) (c ) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, and with darkness being generated everywhere by the so-called successor companies all over the country, we can now claim undoubted vindication that the plan and purpose of privatizing the corporation was not to generate light but to snatch our collective inheritance at give-away prices.
Those of us who opposed the exercise made it clear that we had no problem with entrepreneurs investing in the sector, provided they brought in their equipment and resources to compete with the public corporation. But that was not the idea. They were interested in reaping where they did not sow.
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Unfortunately given the inefficiency of the Corporation many middle class intellectuals were taken in by the argument that unless the Corporation was sold we would never have uninterrupted supply of power.
It is now appropriate to ask all those who were supporting the fraud now if they have light and if they are comfortable with the state of utter darkness all over the country.
I insist that the problem of generating and distributing in power can only be located in unchecked corruption. What was needed was a determined effort on the part of the administration to tackle corruption not only in that important sector but in all sectors in the country. For as long as we have corruption luxuriating for so long will there be shortage of gas, shortage of everything including common sense to generate and distribute power.
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The solution as is now obvious is not in any frivolous road map that leads to utter and comprehensive darkness, but in tackling corruption headlong and reversing the sale of PHCN now. Nigerian capitalists are jokers who imagine that capitalism is simply about accumulating money without even oiling the machinery of accumulation. I call on the federal government to pay back all those who claim that they purchase the successor companies and return PHCN to us immediately. It is indefensible to sell what our forefathers left for us to people who believe only in making money anyhow.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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