There is a typical description of the traffic jam situation in Nigeria. This description is commonly characterised by a theme which is the irrelevance of the causes of traffic jams. In some cases, the area that seems to be the most congested has NOTHING causing the congestion. In most other cases, the cause is a bunch of people parked on the road arguing.
When people decide to park in the middle of the road to argue about any slight inconvenience, it is quite selfish. The action of these people is quite selfish because they are inconsiderate about the rest of the road users.
However, this scenario is not peculiar to just roads because it is common across all sectors in the Nigerian economy. The blame games. For example, the traffic jam situation doesn’t seem like it would turn fluid in the electricity sector any time soon.
It is quite logical that every sector faces challenges along the path of its growth. The problem, however, arises when instead of finding ways to deal with these challenges, the stakeholders of a sector decide to shift the blames and burdens to the next person.
The stakeholders in the electricity sector, the Generation Companies (GenCos), Distribution Companies (DisCos), the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), and the customers, have all managed over the years to accuse each other of being the cause of the sector’s problems.
The traffic jam situation has even managed to catch the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). This is because each arm of the sector think the regulator supports another arm.
However, like all conflict resolutions, all parties involved need to make a conscious effort to work together and compromise. There needs to be a general understanding that as stakeholders, they are all part of the same industry, and one affects all.
The question now is, when will decisions be taken to resolve the traffic jam situation in the Nigerian electricity sector?