It is well known that the government of Nigeria is used to making false promises. Over time, most of the promises with special regards to the electricity sector has yielded no fulfilment.
In recent times, there have been promises by the minister of power on improved electricity supply without an increase in electricity tariff. However, the promise is yet to be actualised as many citizens cry out that the absence of electricity has cost their livelihood and businesses.
Last week, a poll was conducted across The Electricity Hub’s social media platform on the assurance made by the federal government to provide 11,000MW electricity generation by 2022.
This statement is coming after the generation companies in the country had several power plants inoperative. It was reported that eight thermal plants had gas supply challenges, two had poor infrastructural and maintenance problem, while a hydropower plant was reported to have had water management challenges.
These aggregated challenges led to the massive dip in the power generation capacity from 4500MW to below 3000MW, and now there is a promise of 11,000MW generation.
About 60 per cent of Nigerians voted in disbelief of the federal government’s promise; a little above 30 per cent believe that FG would accomplish its promise. In comparison, a meagre 7.4 per cent were uncertain.
From the results gathered, it is not surprising the level of distrust Nigerians have over its administration as the challenges experienced by the power sector goes beyond words of assurance.
Citizens would have to see actual performance improvements before switching into a state of belief over what is being said concerning the country’s power sector.