olorunsogo power plant

When will we have uninterrupted power supply in Nigeria?
Ghana that was devastated years ago came back and put their house in order concerning electricity. Why is Nigeria's situation different?
Several billions of US Dollars have gone into the generation and distribution of electricity in Nigeria but nothing has come out of it. Three years ago, the Committee Chairman of power in the Federal House of Assembly and his committee members set up a probe panel. At the end of it, the hunter became the hunted. The then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan decided with the late President Yar Adua to go round the Country with the report and succeeded in discrediting Hon. Elumelu and his team. Hon Elumelu was able to expose the rut in the handling of the contracts for power by the former head of State Olusegun Obasanjo. Almost USD18M worth of contracts were awarded for building of new thermal stations, upgrading of old ones and general overhauling of the power infrastructure in Nigeria. Unfortunately, the house had to suspend deliberations on the report and Elumelu and his team charged with corruption. The probe ended there but the issues raised are still unresolved and electricity not available for the common man. Take the case below as an example.
The Olorunsogo Power Plant in Ogun State was commissioned by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on May 27, 2007. The Power Plant had an installed capacity of 335Megawatts. The power plant was built by the Chinese firm called SEPCO ELECTRIC Power Construction Corporation. The project was financed through a loan facility from China and Nigeria. The Chinese provided 65percent of the funding and Nigeria provided the rest.
The installed capacity of the plant is 335MW but so far only 80MW capacity is utilised. This is because the 255 mega watts capacity is lost in translation from Chinese to English and vice versa. Out of the eight turbines at the station, only two turbines were functioning since the plant was commissioned over five years ago. Why only 80mws working? The manual that accompanied the plant from China is in Chinese language and our Nigerians Engineers do not understand the language.
Recently, the Federal Government sets up a fact finding delegation which visited the Olorunsogo power plant and were told by the Acting Chief Executive Mohammed ALMU that only two turbines were working. He further lamented that the Chinese labelled all critical areas of the plant in their language and the manual also written in Chinese. This makes setting up and maintaining the plant very difficult for Nigerian Engineers.
Why did Nigerian Government accepted the components of the plant when it was shipped in with Chinese language? The Central Bank stated in their manual of operations that all imports into the country must be labeled in English. Custom was supposed to reject that consignments. SO what happened? Even when the Chinese were installing the plants why didn't someone requested for a manual in English language then? Why were Nigerians Engineers not trained and taught Chinese language before or after production? So many questions but no answers.
The other issue is spare parts. To quote the acting MD of the power plant,

"On the issue of spare parts, at the time of handing over of this project, they were supposed to give us two years running spare parts. But what they gave us were just small spare parts. That is why we are having serious problems. And anytime we contact them, they will promise to bring the parts. And up till now, they have not given us any. And any time we have a problem and we want to go with them, they will refuse to go with us and abandon the place"

As far as i am concerned, the only answer is eradication of corruption. Until we eradicate corruption from our public service, power generation and distribution will continue to be a problem. I pray the current Minister of Power, Barth Nnaji will wake up and do something.

Senator Sani Yerima

I read in the National Dailies and heard from other sources of information that a former Governor of a state and now a lawmaker of the upper chamber(the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria) is taking a 13 years old girl to be his fourth wife. A 13 year old child to be a wife? That was shocking to me. It was shocking because the man is supposed to be a pace setter, an upright individual, a repository of sound moral values and a maker of good laws that Nigerians can be guided by. If this supposed lawmaker is the one defiling an innocent child, then there is a problem.
Of all the adults, grown up women in the world, Yerima did not see but saw a child just learning to understand the world and even become aware of herself as a person. Why a child? Honourable, why this dishonourable act? Unfortunately their culture allows such offensive, barbaric, primitive and despicable act. But the outcome is always disastrouus for the female child. The child whose reproductive organ is not matured and ready for motherhood tears and perforates during child birth. The child becomes a Vestico Vagina Fistula (VVF) victim. The child does not have control over her organs anymore if this happens as faeces and urine leak uncontrolaably through the perforated organs. The child stinks and automatically becomes an outcast in the community. What a punishment? First the child is defiled, secondly her health, wellbeing is destroyed and thirdly for no reason of hers she is made an outcast because she stinks. What a calamity!.
Why are the enlightened people in the north not campaigning against this? What do they stand to gain by keeping quiet? Who are they protecting? Are they happy seeing innocent girls that are supposed to be in school roaming around or abandoned in hospitals to die?
I feel sorry for all the young girls from the Northern part of Nigeria who are victims of a religious and cultural system that do not recognise them as human being but object to be controlled and used anyhow.
This type of marriage between a child of 10 to 16 and an old man of 40 years should be discouraged and stopped immediately. If religions allow you to marry ten wives, that is your business but please marry a woman whose reproductive organ is well formed. Stop subjecting innocent female children to sexual abuse. It is disgusting, nauseating, vile and revolting.
It is only a sick mind like Yerima that can stoop so low to take advantage of a parents' poverty to abuse their under age girls. I pray he does not subject the girl to a lifetime disease and ridicule.
I sincerely hope Nigeria government will do something urgently to stop this.