Subject: Time Now to Fight The Forces of Darkness!

I write to add my voice to the rising cry against the trammeling of the human right to life and to health. Rising anger wells from the pit of my being against the new Power Holding Company of Nigeria which continues to throttle hapless Nigerians, giving every indication that we are still evolving a style of governance that is about a government of a few people, for fewer people, against the rest of us.

Without repeating the litany of woes that NEPA/PHCN have continued to bedevil us with (I, for one have lost more than a few relations, some bread winners; others bright young things in accidents directly attributable to NEPA/PHCN), it is necessary only to add that this calamity which has recently reached outrageous proportions is all the more disturbing because there is every indication that the present degeneration is not abating.

Since the new millennium, many ordinary households have realized that they are constrained to own at least two or more generators just to have access to a modicum of a contemporary lifestyle. What galls one is that the last millennium was known as the electronic or information age; thus to be in the dark still is to be, arguably, a few generations behind the rest of humanity; certainly information, which is power, is beyond our grasp and the powerlessness of the people is evidenced by all the usual economic and social indices which continue to show us as trapped in a dungeon called Nigeria.

To think that so many have died from breathing fumes from generators; that properties have been lost in electrical fires owing to wild fluctuations in supply and yet no arm of government has seen fit to embark on a nationwide enlightenment campaign to sensitize the citizenry on the dangers that can result from the use of personal generators. This is TOTALLY irresponsible and callous of government and PHCN, it borders on criminal negligence considering that it is due to their failure that the citizenry are compelled to use personal generators and not owing to an inordinate love of Carbon Monoxide!

I must emphasize here that we are not using generators because we don’t want to pay our bills; bills are usually paid because of the strong arm tactics that PHCN employs in compelling compliance and payment! Added to which they show no hestitation in increasing tariffs or indeed over billing the over tasked citizens at every opportunity.

Without wasting more words, my submission is that it must now become evident to all that WE the citizens must fight for continuous power supply with all the grim determination with which we fought for democracy!
The electronic age was the last millennium! Rather than down tools in response to fuel price increases, we must down tools to fight to bring electric power supply to our homes. That our families are forced to depend on diesel and PMS whilst continuing to pay for services even as we continue to endure incessant outtages is an inexscusable outrage.

If the politicians will not give us power, then it becomes incumbent on us to wrest this most basic service and prerequisite of a modern existence for our children if not for ourselves, from the forces of darkness. Otherwise many more lives will be lost, even more will be in jeopardy, a great deal of hard earned property will be lost and the education of our children will continue to be substandard! WE MUST ACT NOW!