Is Darkness For Sale? —Isaac Asabor

The question, “Is Darkness For Sale?” which incidentally is the title of this piece, sums up the bewilderment of many Nigerians over the planned increase in electricity tariff with effect from the month of June 2012.

A casual appraisal of the services being rendered by Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) across the nation would reveal that PHCN does not have any iota of justification to increase electricity tariff.

In my personal view, PHCN by now ought to have adopted a compensatory policy aimed at offering free services to its customers that are credit worthy. This kind of policy would be similar to what is done in the telecommunication industry. Telecommunication companies are wont to compensate their subscribers with free airtime whenever it is observed that their services are not satisfactorily delivered. What stops PHCN from doing so to its customers? Is it because PHCN does not have competitor(s)? Let me quickly opine at this juncture that PHCN is still light years away from satisfying its customers through the application of modern day Customer Service Management.

Some days ago, I overheard a man at Lawanson in Lagos say NEPA (as PHCN is alternatively called) ought to be revived by the federal government before imposing a monopolistic and unrealistic tariff regime on its “choiceless” consumers. He added by asking whether NEPA is expecting its consumers to be paying for darkness. His question made sense. In my personal view, once PHCN is not distributing light to its consumers, it therefore means that it is distributing darkness. Therefore, if I may ask, is darkness for sale?. We all know that darkness cannot be offered for sale because it has no value and does not satisfy needs since nobody needs it. Then why is the federal government selling darkness to Nigerians in the name of increasing electricity tariff? Moreso, the performance of the organization falls below the expectations of millions of Nigerians if the promises made during the last presidential campaign of President Goodluck Jonathan is anything to by. When I watched and read his lips during the campaign period I was expecting the performance of PHCN to equal that of the Electricity Company of Ghana.

No doubt, it is never ill-advised to urge the federal government to revive the PHCN for effective and efficient performance before imposing high tariff on the consumers. The reason for this line of thinking cannot be far-fetched as Nigerians have never enjoyed satisfactory electricity supply in a long time. For instance, whenever PHCN supplies electricity consecutively for two days in some communities, the consumers that are domiciled in that community are wont to jubiliate and give thanks to God. It may not be absurd for anyone to stand before the congregation of a large church to give testimony and thanks to God that NEPA supplied uninterrupted power supply for two consecutive days in the community where he lives. In other West African countries, such as Ghana, power supply for 20 consecutive days is never celebrated with a testimony and thanksgiving at the church. To the Ghanaians, it is a way of life. The epileptic power supply by PHCN has now assumed an unprecedented part of daily discussions. The problem with PHCN actually started many years ago. In an effort to redeem its bad image, Public Relations Officers in its employ were wont to attribute its problem to debts owed by customers, dilapidated or obsolete equipment, inadequate water level in the dams, acts of vandalization, multiple and illegal connection by consumers and stealing of vital parts of its equipment. This barrage of “lazy man complaints” had compelled the federal government to intervene in different ways. Yet, PHCN is still behaving like the well-fed baby that refused to walk despite the sonorous lullaby from the mother’s mouth and the lovely whistling that flows from the father’s mouth. What else does the baby want? The case of PHCN has seemingly defied every intervention applied to its basket-full of lingering problems.

The most distasteful of all was when PHCN officials told Nigerians some years ago that reptiles were responsible for damage to its installations. The foregoing explanations were what PHCN officials used in placating electricity consumers.

However, the poor electricity supply in the country today is beyond these image making explanations. How can babies who began to talk by screaming “NEPA!!!!” understand these explanations?

Many industries are producing far below their installed capacities thereby exacerbating the unemployment situation in the country. Many companies that have the collective capacities of absorbing millions of unemployed Nigerian youths into their companies are today expending a great percentage of their working capital on the maintenance and fuelling of their electricity generators.

Also, intermittent power failure has posed serious danger to costly and sophisticated office equipment, such as desktop and laptop computers, photocopy machines, airconditioners and fans. On a sad note, PHCN has indirectly contributed to the untimely deaths of many Nigerians. There was the case of a tailor who was sometime last year reportedly choked to death by the fume of the mini-generator he ignorantly switch on in his shop while he slept. Similar reports abound all over the country. It is also no more a hearsay that many lives and buildings have been destroyed as a result of fire incidents caused by candle light.

If I may ask again, is the foregoing tales of woes and darkness what PHCN and federal government asking Nigerians to pay this June? Even if some of our politicians enjoy free electricity in their various official quarters across the nation, they should be sensitive to the plight of the other Nigerians that are not politicians like themselves by intervening. Our lawmakers should invite some key managers of PHCN to the floor of the House of Representatives to offer explanation to Nigerians on why they should hike electricity tariff.

With the glaring poor performance of NEPA, as I would prefer to call it at this juncture, many Nigerians now find it difficult to monitor local and foreign news on their radio and television sets since they cannot even afford to buy batteries and fuel. No thanks to the prevailing hard times which bad political leadership has caused.

It is sad that PHCN is not really helping the country to boost her external image. This is because PHCN consumers include expatriates from countries across the world. Also, any first time visitor to the country may not be deliberately tarnishing the image of the country by vividly recounting his true experience when he actually returns to his country. Besides, PHCN’s poor performance cannot be said to enhance an enabling environment in the consideration of foreign investors. Even as I write this piece, I am still wondering about what services to the nation is expecting from PHCN this June. Is it for the light they are wont to supply in an epileptic manner or for the darkness they are generating? Why are they calling on Nigerians to get prepared for higher payment of darkness? It is not an exaggeration to say that PHCN is literarily distributing darkness to its consumers. Simply put, PHCN is not functioning. Then, why does the management of the public utility company want its consumers to be paying higher tariff for the services they are not rendering?

In as much as one is not trying to give PHCN a bad name to hang it, it is wise for one to let its top officials understand that their PR or Public Information department is yet to explain to Nigerians why they should be paying for darkness.

Permit me to opine at this juncture that several lifelines that translated into huge monetary value have been literarily thrown to rescue PHCN by government in the last 10 years. Yet the problem of inefficiency still remains with the organization. If I may ask, given the lifelines, why is the organization still finding it difficult to effortlessly distribute electricity across the nation, and at a cheaper tariff? Also, what assurance is the management of PHCN giving Nigerians that with the proposed increased in tariff the organization would perform better or rather add value to its services?

Finally, the key spokepersons in PHCN should embark on an aggressive campaign to explain to Nigerians why they are so desperate in selling darkness to Nigerians. Given the antecedent of the organization, this writer is very optimistic, not pessimistic that PHCN, even with the proposed increase is not going to add value to its services. After all, the tariff Nigerians are presently paying is far higher than what they were paying in the past. Even at that, has PHCN added value to its services?

It does not make a good business sense for PHCN to continue hiking its tariff for supplying darkness without offering plausible and convincing explanations on why consumers should be paying for “valueless” service. Better still, they should please explain to Nigerians on what basis they should be paying for darkness?

•Asabor writes in from Lagos. [email protected]