Is Minister Of Power Sick In The Head?

By Abdu Labaran Malumfashi

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, whom I otherwise refer to as ‘Minister of Darkness’, was quoted by Walkiya (vernacular newspaper) as saying that in the two years that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came to power, “there has never been blackout in Nigeria”.

Such a statement can only be uttered by a mad man, or someone living on CLOUD NINE (a dreamer) waiting for something to happen, or one who believes Nigeria STARTS and ENDS in Lagos and Ibadan. Lagos, the capital of the president’s home state, and Ibadan being the capital of the minister’s home state of Oyo.

The number one citizen wants to transfer the capital of the country back to Lagos, to actualise his disbelief in Nigeria, and the Minister of Darkness dreams of being the next governor of Oyo state when the 2027 elections are conducted by the Independent National Election Commission (INEC).

Otherwise, anyone, even visitors to Nigeria, know that electricity is a luxury, only the rich and top government officials and lawmakers can afford, unless one lives in Lagos or Ibadan.

I live in the most expensive area in the country in terms of electricity payment. My area is in the so-called Band A zone where we pay N35,000 (35K) per month for the darkness we are mostly served. We are currently on a 22 weeks (5 and half months) consecutive run with ‘FALLING OF LINE’, which lasts between two to four days every week, with some lasting about one whole week.

Three weeks ago, the FALLING OF LINE lasted for 14 days. For two weeks we lived in darkness. Currently, light returned for less than one hour after its absence for five days, due to (yes, you got it right) the FALLING OF LINE. It only came back at 10:02 in the morning, but lasted for less than two hours (2 hours) before it went off again, until God knows when.

But users of Band A in Lagos and their Ibadan counterparts get 24hrs supply of electricity per day, for payment of much lower tariff. Even Band A users in Enugu, who pay N16,000 per month, get no less than 20 hours a day of electricity.

And in President Tinubu’s first year in office, there were 20 collapses of the National Grid,
most of which affected only the Northern part of the country. On 19/10/2024, I wrote an article with the title ‘National Grid: One Collapse Too Many’. In the article, I asserted that, “The latest collapse of the National Grid is simply one collapse too many in the country of close to 230 million people. The darkness brings in the irritating and often dangerous mosquitoes in the nights, which may be the reason for the high number of malaria cases and patients in Nigeria.

“For the 8th time in 2024, the National Grid has experienced collapse, with the latest happening on Saturday, 19th October 2024. Yet, only the head of the Minister of Power is being called for, but not that of the person on whose table the buck stops. Mr. President should be held accountable since he controls the country’s resources.

“Even the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) believes that there were too many incidents of disturbances on the National Grid and the resulting power outages experienced in the country. It announced on its X handle recently, of plans to conduct a public investigative hearing to find out the remote and immediate causes of the frequent collapse of the National Grid.”

And the sycophantic minister in charge of the power ministry, claims that Nigeria has never experienced a blackout since Tinubu became President. That is the problem with giving an MBS (not the academic variety, but (MAD BIGOTED SYCOPHANT) a position by an equally sick-minded, tribal sycophant, he deserves, except for his ability to obsequiously do as will please his clueless boss.

And Tinubu without any iota of doubt, a clueless leader, who promised to provide electricity to Nigerians during his first term in office, failure of which he urged the electorate NOT to “vote for me for a second term”. He is nowhere near, and does not appear likely to fulfil the promise, which leaves the Nigerian electorate to redeem their own part of his urging.

Not long ago the minister of darkness invited the world to witness the formal opening of the palace he built in the two years of the presidency of his boss, in preparation of his becoming the next governor of Oyo state on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

Instead of him to resign, or at least hide his face in shame at failing to positively deliver on his mandate, he is proudly showing the world the extent of the corruption of the regime under which he serves as a minister that is supposed to provide light, but provides darkness for the majority of the hapless citizens their rarely available naira, most of which end up in private pockets.

As I also once noted, some politicians (‘big’ and ‘small’) live in denial of the deteriorating situation of security in Nigeria. They have been singing praises of the present government, claiming that there is peace in the country, even though there is a noticeable spike in the regularity of the deadly attacks, abductions for ransom, animal rustling and theft of food stuffs by the bandits, especially in the three North West states of Zamfara, Katsina and Sokoto.

This is happening at the time when Nigeria is supposed to have entered into a security agreement with the US, France and Israel.
Such politicians could be either beneficiaries in the insecurity, or they are mere sycophants, who want to be given the opportunity to be ‘re-elected’ to ‘represent’ their constituents again. Whichever way, they would always be found making the right noises that the powers-that-be like to hear.

Sycophancy and living in the denial of the truth, are the survival tricks of the present regime, which only lives on propaganda to ‘showcase’ its minus+ achievements since coming to power a little over two years ago (May 29, 2023).

May God get rid of liers, sycophants, deceivers and their principal from the leadership of Nigeria in 2027, and rests the country from the grating and grits of madness.

Malumfashi writes from Katsina