27th April, 2012
The opening ceremony of the ongoing 2nd South-South Economic in Asaba, Delta State was yesterday interrupted several times by power outage.
Darkness enveloped the large hall when the heavy duty generating sets supplying electricity to the hall suddenly stopped working while the six governors of the South-South States were being introduced for a debate session on their achievements in their respective states.
The first power outage lasted for about 30 minutes, while the second one lasted for less than 10 minutes. However, the governors went ahead with their debate under poor lighting and heat, with a makeshift sound system.
Hundreds of participants had to vacate the hall that had become hot and stuffy to escape suffocation.
Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole said the negative impression associated with incessant power outage is that Nigeria is a country of failure.
“When the representative of the President of Rwanda gets back home, what he will tell his president is that when the governors were about to commence their debate, power went out,” Oshiomhole said.
The six Governors of the South-South listed the different forms of economic restoration they have embarked upon in their respective states.
In his keynote address, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka berated Nigerian leaders both at state and federal levels on the poor economic policies and corruption that have paralyzed all economic activities in Nigeria.
—Jethro Ibileke/ Asaba