Electricity

The management of the University College Hospital(UCH) Ibadan, Nigeria has appealed to patients to bear with the hospital as it makes efforts to address the present electricity challenge.

This appeal was made by the management through the Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Obafunmilayo Adetuyibi in a chat with New Federation.

''Patients in the wards of the hospital should bear with us,the hospital is making efforts to address the electricity challenge. Our internally Generated Revenue(IGR) has gone low, several letters have been written to friends of the hospital in both the public and private sectors, we are hopeful that they will help us out.'' Mrs. Adetuyibi stated.

The Public Relations Officer explained that on assumption of duty on the 1st of March 2019, the Chief Medical Director(CMD), Prof. Jesse Otegbayo met an accumulated bill of over 200 million Naira, adding,'' the bill is not for UCH alone, the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan has its own bill, one for UCH and one for the College of Medicine. As at January this year, we paid 50 million Naira and for February, we paid 55 million Naira and for March, we paid 45 million Naira. All these we have paid, even though electricity is not available for 24 hours.''

Mrs Adetuyibi also noted that health workers in the hospital had the right to protect themselves, while stressing that there were Public Service Rules that guide the policy thrust of the hospital.

''JOHESU wrote a letter to the management intimating the management of a 14 day ultimatum to restore electricity. The management will still get back to them. They should wait for a management decision.''

The PRO maintained that services have not been disrupted by the power outage saying,''our laboratories and the Universal Laboratory are functioning. Patients go to the laboratories to pick up their results, we are working round the clock to restore electricity supply, they should bear with us.''

The rejection of electricity supply from the Transmission Company of Nigeria(TCN) by the Distribution companies in Nigeria calls for great concern.
This assertion was made by an Ex-Officio of the Oyo state council of the Trade Union Congress(TUC), who is also a former chairman of the union, Comrade Andrew Emelieze. Transfer Money with Wise
''The rejection of electricity supply from the Transmission Company of Nigeria(TCN) by the Distribution companies calls for great concern. It is worrisome and most unexpected that our people are not enjoying the services they paid for despite the so-called privatization of the distribution of electricity. It is equally unfortunate that an apartheid regime was introduced in the billing and supply of electricity, a situation in which some people can have electricity for longer hours than others, with annoying estimated billing. For how long will Nigerians continue to pay for a dysfunctional system. The only option is for Nigerians to cease to pay for darkness and decide that the payment of electricity would be subject to the availability of electricity,'' Comrade Emelieze stated.

Ever since the privatization of the power sector, Nigerians have continued to pay for darkness even though the expectations was that the privatization would ensure that electricity would be stable and regular. Sadly, this is not the case.

Of worry, is the fact that estimated billing, in the face of the irregular electricity supply all over the country by the Electricity Distribution Companies(DISCO) has been more of a night mare for serious minded Nigerians.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head, Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke opines that increase in electricity is not the way to go since 90 per cent of Nigerians are contending with poverty and hunger. Excerpts :

Darkness persists despite the privatization of electricity supply in Nigeria, do you think increasing tariffs is the solution?

Th system of government in Nigeria has always been characterized by insensitivity to the records of the history for its performance to put in place a value system that is not only maintainable but sustainable for the future. The consequence has always has always been a case of worsening situation through successive governments till date.

The level of corruption at all levels of its management became embarrassingly high to the detriment of our development even in the areas of economic diversification projects, vocational and entrepreneurship ventures and the general economy that is artisan driven. As the home comfort suffers, the industrial sector suffers more.

The solution to aid better performance became directed towards using metering system to avoid the further issuance of estimated or ’ crazy’ bills even in the absence of regular power supply. It is unfortunate to note that the failure of this sector has adversely affected the realization of the vision 20–20–20 project which experts projected that same would require a minimum of 6,000 megawatts power generation for Nigeria to be able to rise to be among the first 20 economically viable nations in the world.

It is embarrassing for government to direct its search light towards the masses of which 90 per cent of the population had already been impoverished to pay for the debt they never incurred through their attempted policy to increase the tariffs. It is equally embarrassing for the National Assembly and DISCOS to ask the Federal Government to subsidize electricity consumption without putting in place some measures such as proper metering before such hike could be implemented.

With the Coronavirus pandemic collapsing the economy and further impoverishing Nigerians who do not have access to jumbo pay, it is not proper to add more to the people’s challenges of coping with the present hardships through the so called cost reflective tariffs.

The Federal Government has been advised to consider tha harsh economic climate in the country before facilitatin g the increase in electricity tariffs.

This advice was given by Pastor Opeymei Ajayi in a chat with Poverty Line.

''Government should consider the masses and have a rethink by not increasing tariffs on electricity. The economic crunch is biting very hard, people are finding it very very difficult to feed. Food items are now beyond the reach of millions of Nigerians. Government should have pity on the masses'', Pastor Ajayi advised.

Tanzania is set to establish its first wind powered electricity.

The project, facilitated by the WindLab Devlopment Tanzania, would be located in Makambako, Njombe region of the country.

The project would be in three phases of 100MW for each phase, while the first phase would serve over one million residents of Makambako township.

The Managing Director of WindLab Developments Tanzania, Ms. Katherine Persson who made this known, also disclosed that the project on completion, would have a lifespan of between 25 and 30 years.

''We work to ensure that local communities from the villages of Igomba, Isimike and Itengelo benefit from this project, Ms. Persson stated.

The first phase would cost $250 million and implementation would be  between 12 and 18 months.