A few days ago, the executive governor of Edo state, in an interview, revealed that the federal government had to print an extra fifty to sixty billion naira in hard currency as part of the federal allocation for March to be given to the state government.
This news came as a shock to many Nigerians who believed it was a step in the wrong direction; as experts have clarified, such moves have negative economic implications. Although many would say excessive printing of money is not sound fiscal policy, one could understand the pressing need for that move; as the federal government has had to it was a primary means to solving the urgent financial crises.
In my opinion, resolving the electric power deficit of our country should have the same urgency.
The issue of deficiency of power supply ought to be a national emergency because its effect resonates on all facets of the country’s entire citizens. If an adequate provision of electricity could be provided, the psychological, financial, social, and national outlook of our over 200M capita economy would significantly improve, superimposing on the need to print excess hard currency in the first place.
On the scale of preference, if all our needs could be resolved by printing in excess, the very thing we lack, we would have opted to print more power, as is the belief of some other experts who see the move taken by the federal government could drive our economy in the positive direction.
Only if we could print power!.