Nigeria is a strange land. With our level of ‘shakara’, ‘efficy’ and fondness to be called the ‘giant of Africa’, and even with several top-level ivy league-trained bureaucrats and technocrats in the public sector, the Nigerian government can not come up with a good answer on how much was spent (or misspent) on generating power between 1999 and 2007.
Simple arithmetics can become suddenly complex.
Now the national assembly has to probe, debate, and re-debate and re-probe the issue. The only constant in the equation is that at the end of the day, no work will be done.
Strange things happen in Nigeria!
Nigeria is the true reflection of a “gbibiti” nation. Fraud and mediocrity is the rule of the day. It is time to ask the former president Obasanjo to tell us I much his government spent fixing power problems in Nigeria. You can guess what his answer will be!
March 13, 2008 at 12:26 pm
There was no need to keep the book anyway, since nobody takes a second look at them…oops until now. All we know is that it is in the billions and we have nothing to show for it.
God Bless Nigeria.
March 13, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I worked from home today and ended up watching the House sitting Live on AIT till 16.17Hrs.
It was a mixture of so many feelings that I cannot isolate.
First, Rep Ndudi and his members of the Committee are on course, I will not make observations later.
Second, the NIPP MD understands why he is standing before the committee but the unfortunate thing is that he has been made the undertaker by default.
The permanent secretary (Dr…) of the Min. of Power is a joker and needs to be cautioned.
Lastly, all the contractors and the consultants there present have reinforced my belief that every foreigner that does business in Nigeria is as culpable as the corrupt Nigerian promoter. They and their Nigeria cohorts are our worst enemies.
I am personally watching to see how far the committee will go with their findings and recommendations.
March 13, 2008 at 5:46 pm
WWN: Was the House sitting on the money misspent on the power sector?
March 13, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Nigerian arithmetic, never fails to amaze me. Where is the money from the ‘Petroleum fund’? Have they shared that amongst the states? I thought Yardy ‘vetoed’ that idea. So where is the money? Money has been disappearing that country since day one and only God knows who has chopped ‘belle wise’ from the disappearing acts. Like someone said to me recently, “Let us at least hope that they were Nigerians and not foreigners that made money on such ‘deals’”.
Thanks for this post, will try and link to it for MOnday’s article.
NIGERIAN CURIOSITY
IT WAS SO MUCH EASIER WHEN I ONLY HAD ONE…
March 16, 2008 at 5:52 pm
god bless nigeria the best we can do is pray we’ve complained and nothing has changed so why dont we jus do 1 Timothy 2:1 and let us see if thing wont change
March 19, 2008 at 7:55 am
Yes we can pray, but would God descend from heaven to fix Nigeria? No. What Nigerians need to do is be more proactive and assume ownership of their land from run away political rogues like Agagu and his likes. Speaking and blogging against executive corruption and complacency isn’t ‘complaining’, it’s all about raising awareness and highlighting what needs to fixed in Nigeria.
March 19, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Well said Imnakoya and echoed. Diagnosis and prognosis comes well before curative treatment. The problems we have in Nigeria are compounded and goes way beyond Arithmetic. What better solution than to air evil deeds, make them unsavoury, educate the masses, while hoping for a change of their mindset. Softly softly Nigeria go better after waking up.
March 20, 2008 at 4:29 pm