The Trumpet Newspaper Issue 611 (November 29 - December 12 2023)
Sharpeville: New research on 1960 South African massacre shows the number of dead and injured was massively undercounted
Sharpeville: New research on 1960 South African massacre shows the number of dead and injured was massively undercounted
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<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
Africans now have a voice... Founded in 1995<br />
V O L <strong>29</strong> N O <strong>611</strong> N O V E M B E R <strong>29</strong> - DECEMBER <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
25 th<br />
<strong>The</strong> row of graves of people killed during the Sharpeville massacre on 21 March 1960 (Photo Andrew Hall CCA SA Int 4.0)<br />
Sharpeville:<br />
New research on 1960 South<br />
African massacre shows<br />
the number of dead and<br />
injured was massively<br />
undercounted<br />
By Nancy L Clark and William H. Worger<br />
Continued on Page 2><br />
Insurance<br />
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using industry data to work with UK<br />
police to detect and disrupt organised<br />
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insurance fraud, is warning motorists to<br />
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Increasingly clever fraudsters prey<br />
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Detective Chief Inspector Tom Hill,<br />
from the City of London Police’s<br />
Insurance Fraud Enforcement<br />
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make sure that you’re buying a genuine<br />
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unsure whether an insurance broker is<br />
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all authorised brokers.”
Page2 <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> NOVEMBER <strong>29</strong> - DECEMBER <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
News<br />
Sharpeville: New research on 1960<br />
South African massacre shows the<br />
number of dead and injured was<br />
massively undercounted<br />
Continued from Page 1<<br />
On 21 March 1960 at 1.40 in the<br />
afternoon, apartheid South<br />
Africa’s police opened fire on a<br />
peaceful crowd of about 4,000 residents<br />
of Sharpeville, who were protesting<br />
against carrying identity documents that<br />
restricted black people’s movement. <strong>The</strong><br />
police minimised the number of victims<br />
by at least one third, and justified the<br />
shooting by claiming that the crowd was<br />
violent. This shocking story has been thus<br />
misrepresented for over 60 years.<br />
Our new research retells the story of<br />
Sharpeville, about 70km south of<br />
Johannesburg, from the viewpoint of the<br />
victims themselves. As experienced<br />
historians who have undertaken archival<br />
research in South Africa since the 1970s<br />
we based our research on interviews with<br />
survivors and investigation into<br />
government records in both the police<br />
archives and the national archives in<br />
Pretoria. Our work reveals the true<br />
number of victims and the exact role of<br />
the police in the massacre.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Sharpeville Massacre ignited<br />
international outrage and the birth of the<br />
Anti-Apartheid Movement worldwide. It<br />
also led to renewed political protests<br />
inside South Africa. <strong>The</strong>se were met with<br />
the total suppression of political<br />
movements that lasted for 30 years.<br />
Despite its historic importance,<br />
Sharpeville as a place and a community<br />
has remained unknown to the wider public<br />
and its residents anonymous. Yet they<br />
have a story to tell.<br />
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Even though the Truth and<br />
Reconciliation Commission chose the<br />
1960 Sharpeville massacre as the formal<br />
beginning of its investigation of apartheid<br />
crimes, its examination of the massacre<br />
itself was perfunctory. Only three<br />
witnesses from the community were<br />
invited to testify during just part of one<br />
day (out of 2,000 witnesses during five<br />
years of hearings).<br />
People in Sharpeville believe that the<br />
lack of attention to their plight since<br />
democracy in 1994 is because the original<br />
protest was organised by the rival Pan-<br />
Africanist Congress of Azania, not the<br />
governing African National Congress<br />
(ANC).<br />
Changing the narrative<br />
Based on our research, the new book<br />
Voices of Sharpeville traces the long<br />
residence of Africans in the greater<br />
Sharpeville area, as far as the Cradle of<br />
Humankind World Heritage Site 100km<br />
north. It also emphasises the crucial<br />
industrial importance of the greater Vaal<br />
Triangle in which Sharpeville is located,<br />
from the 1930s onward.<br />
Our work details the rich culture<br />
developed by urban Sharpeville residents<br />
in defiance of the attempts of Prime<br />
Minister HF Verwoerd’s attempts to<br />
control African life.<br />
Using the words of witnesses as<br />
recorded from their hospital beds within<br />
days of the shooting, and for weeks and<br />
months later, the events of 21 March 1960<br />
are recounted in detail, increasing the<br />
number of victims to at least 91 dead, and<br />
281 injured. <strong>The</strong> official police figures<br />
first published in 1960 and repeated<br />
endlessly ever since were 69 and 180<br />
respectively.<br />
<strong>The</strong> witness testimony places the<br />
responsibility for the shooting squarely<br />
with the police.<br />
New evidence<br />
<strong>The</strong> oral and documentary source<br />
material we used was previously off limits<br />
to researchers, insufficiently examined, or<br />
largely ignored. Access to many records<br />
held by the previous apartheid<br />
government was absolutely restricted<br />
prior to 1994, and since then many of the<br />
records have not been properly registered.<br />
This makes it challenging for researchers<br />
to find important documents.<br />
But with the help of archivists and<br />
librarians, we were able to locate rare and<br />
even hidden records of Sharpeville and its<br />
history, and record the voices of many of<br />
the town’s residents.<br />
History of Sharpeville<br />
<strong>The</strong> first settlement in the Sharpeville<br />
area – Top Location – was razed in the<br />
1950s to make space for white people’s<br />
businesses and homes. Official records<br />
and aerial photographs reveal the previous<br />
existence of a large community on the<br />
now empty land. <strong>The</strong>re is also an<br />
unmarked cemetery where about 3,500<br />
residents were buried between around<br />
1900 and 1938.<br />
By the mid-20th century, apartheid<br />
officials began to plan a bigger settlement<br />
in the vicinity. Sharpeville and other<br />
places like it were designed in the 1950s to<br />
segregate Africans away from the cities,<br />
which were reserved for white people<br />
only.<br />
Sharpeville’s housing construction<br />
became a “model” for the ubiquitous fourroomed<br />
NE 51/9 houses in black<br />
townships throughout the country, none of<br />
which they could own outright but rent<br />
only.<br />
In almost 300 witness statements taken<br />
by the police immediately following the<br />
shooting, many of the everyday details of<br />
life in Sharpeville were revealed. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
statements were recorded immediately<br />
after arrest and under oath by the police to<br />
determine guilt or innocence against the<br />
charges of “public violence and<br />
incitement” brought against them. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
were also provided voluntarily in 1961<br />
and 1962, also under oath, by survivors<br />
and family members to establish a basis<br />
for the compensation the victims<br />
unsuccessfully requested.<br />
Details of family life – numbers of<br />
children, occupations, wages, and health<br />
– were recorded, providing a wealth of<br />
Sharpeville massacre memorial<br />
(Photo - Matt Brown CCA 2.0)<br />
information about Sharpeville’s residents.<br />
<strong>The</strong> massacre: Testimony, both from<br />
the official 1960 commission of enquiry<br />
into the massacre, and the criminal court<br />
trial of over 70 Sharpeville residents in<br />
1960-1961, detailed the actions of both the<br />
crowd and the police.<br />
<strong>The</strong> testimony by civilians and police<br />
alike, together with the claimants’<br />
statements, provides a minute-by-minute<br />
narrative of the day. <strong>The</strong> testimonies of the<br />
residents, including all the Africans who<br />
worked for the municipality and as police<br />
officers in Sharpeville, unanimously<br />
attested to the fact that the crowd gathered<br />
peacefully to protest the pass law.<br />
According to these witnesses, by the time<br />
of the shooting, almost 300 policemen had<br />
been moved into the township, including<br />
at least 13 white policemen armed with<br />
Sten machine guns. <strong>The</strong>re were five<br />
Saracen armoured vehicles.<br />
Police testimony makes it clear that the<br />
officer in charge gave the order to shoot,<br />
with the machine gunners firing directly<br />
into the crowd from a distance of no more<br />
than 3-5 metres. As one white official<br />
noted:<br />
It made me think of a wheat field,<br />
where a whirlwind had shaken it.<br />
<strong>The</strong> crowd was taken utterly by<br />
surprise by the police fusillade. Over three<br />
quarters of them, dead and injured alike,<br />
were shot in the back as they fled.<br />
<strong>The</strong> victims: Crucial to gaining an<br />
accurate understanding of the numbers of<br />
Continued on Page 3
News<br />
NOVEMBER <strong>29</strong> - DECEMBER <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
Sharpeville: New research on 1960 South<br />
African massacre shows the number of dead<br />
and injured was massively undercounted<br />
Page3<br />
Continued from Page 1<<br />
victims – their names, families, and<br />
injuries – were the autopsy and medical<br />
records detailing the exact causes of death<br />
and injury for the over 300 victims. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
forms and narrative statements, filled out<br />
by the hospital physicians who treated the<br />
injured and performed autopsies on the<br />
dead, prove conclusively that the<br />
government under-counted the victims by<br />
at least one third.<br />
This new information remained<br />
embargoed in police records throughout<br />
the apartheid years to 1994. Some of it<br />
was finally transferred to the national<br />
archives in the late 1990s and early 2000s.<br />
It details the injuries.<br />
Remembrance<br />
<strong>The</strong> people of Sharpeville wonder why<br />
the world has not listened to their stories<br />
even as they have told them from the day<br />
of the shooting to the present.<br />
In <strong>2023</strong>, residents were able to use the<br />
information uncovered in our research to<br />
update the Wall of Names Memorial<br />
(which lists the name of every person who<br />
gave their life fighting for freedom in<br />
South Africa) at Freedom Park in Pretoria<br />
to reflect accurately the number of victims<br />
killed on 21 March 1960. But still they<br />
have received no compensation for their<br />
injuries.<br />
• Nancy L Clark is Dean and Professor<br />
Emeritus at Louisiana State University<br />
and William H. Worger is Professor<br />
Emeritus of History at University of<br />
California, Los Angeles.<br />
• This article is republished from <strong>The</strong><br />
Conversation under a Creative<br />
Commons license. Read the original<br />
article.
Page4<br />
<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> Group<br />
Field: 07956 385 604<br />
E-mail:<br />
info@the-trumpet.com<br />
<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong>Team<br />
PUBLISHER / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:<br />
’Femi Okutubo<br />
NOVEMBER <strong>29</strong> - DECEMBER <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
News<br />
20 th Achievement<br />
Recognition Awards<br />
(ARA) honours achievers<br />
<strong>The</strong> 20 th edition of the Achievement<br />
Recognition Awards (ARA)<br />
organised by Building Blocks<br />
Initiative (BBI) with the theme:<br />
“BEYOND WINDRUSH 75 -<br />
AFRICAN RENAISSANCE” took place<br />
in London recently.<br />
CONTRIBUTORS:<br />
Moji Idowu, Ayo Odumade,<br />
Steve Mulindwa<br />
SPECIAL PROJECTS:<br />
Odafe Atogun<br />
John-Brown Adegunsoye (Abuja)<br />
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ATLANTA BUREAU CHIEF:<br />
Uko-Bendi Udo<br />
3695 F Cascade Road #2140 Atlanta,<br />
GA 30331 USA<br />
Tel: +1 404 889 3613<br />
E-mail: uudo1@hotmail.com<br />
BOARD OF CONSULTANTS<br />
CHAIRMAN:<br />
Pastor Kolade Adebayo-Oke<br />
MEMBERS:<br />
Tunde Ajasa-Alashe<br />
Allison Shoyombo, Peter Osuhon<br />
<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> (ISSN: 1477-3392)<br />
is published in London fortnightly<br />
Honoured during the Awards were:<br />
· Lucille Moffatt-Asante, YEGA <strong>2023</strong><br />
WINNER, In recognition of her<br />
Creative Enterprising Mind,<br />
Determination & Perseverance.<br />
· Cllr (Dr) Mahamed Hashi, Young<br />
Leadership Development Recognition.<br />
In recognition of his immeasurable acts<br />
of selflessness, outstanding<br />
professional contribution and political<br />
leadership in knowledge transfer,<br />
community and youth development<br />
support.<br />
· Oluwatosin Khadijat Adesina, Save the<br />
Woman, Community Volunteering<br />
Recognition. In recognition of her<br />
consistent acts of selflessness and<br />
positive contribution to the<br />
development of Save the Woman<br />
charity, service users, wider<br />
Community and the Voluntary Sector.<br />
· Dr Imambay Kamara, Exemplary<br />
Community Lifetime Leadership<br />
Recognition. In recognition of her<br />
outstanding professional activism on<br />
women’s rights, protection from<br />
domestic abuse and public education<br />
on the harms domestic abuse does to<br />
both the victim and the whole family.<br />
· Cllr Nneka Keazor, Exemplary<br />
Political & Professional Leadership<br />
Recognition. In recognition of her<br />
outstanding professional contribution<br />
to political participation and<br />
community development.<br />
· Caroline Namugabi, Professional<br />
Leadership Recognition for<br />
Community Development &<br />
Empowerment. In recognition of her<br />
immeasurable positive contribution to<br />
Black community economic<br />
development and empowerment.<br />
· Prof Ojo Emmanuel Ademola,<br />
Professional Leadership Excellence<br />
Recognition, In recognition of his<br />
immeasurable outstanding professional<br />
contribution to leadership excellence in<br />
knowledge transfer, Cyber Security,<br />
business and community development.<br />
· Hon. Kenneth Gbandi, Exemplary<br />
Diaspora Community & Political<br />
Leadership Recognition. In recognition<br />
of his immeasurable exemplary<br />
community development and political<br />
leadership, and also serving as a great<br />
inspiration to the Nigerian diaspora<br />
communities and beyond.<br />
· Ony Ikeji, Exemplary Professional<br />
Leadership Recognition. In recognition<br />
Achievement Recognition Award plaques<br />
of her immeasurable exemplary<br />
professional leadership.<br />
· Anthony Everest (AREMUORIN),<br />
Exemplary Professional Creative Artist<br />
of the year. In recognition and<br />
appreciation of his immeasurable acts<br />
of generousity and exemplary<br />
professional leadership contribution to<br />
performing arts and the creative<br />
industry.<br />
· Tahira Tofa, YSDNDY, Exemplary<br />
Creative Artist of the year. In<br />
recognition and appreciation of her<br />
boldness, creativity and imaginative<br />
thinking in challenging societal norms<br />
and stereotypes through creative arts.<br />
· Tolu Osinderu, CLEVENARD.<br />
Outstanding Diaspora Professional<br />
Leadership Recognition. In recognition<br />
of his immeasurable outstanding sense<br />
of generous professional contribution<br />
Continued on Page 5<<br />
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News<br />
NOVEMBER <strong>29</strong> - DECEMBER <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
20 th Achievement Recognition<br />
Awards (ARA) honours achievers<br />
Page5<br />
Continued from Page 4<<br />
and commitment to community<br />
empowerment and development.<br />
· Ebony Bain, Braids and Beauty,<br />
Entrepreneur of the Year. In recognition<br />
of her outstanding professional<br />
contribution to personal development<br />
and self-economic empowerment.<br />
· Martin Forde KC. Honorary<br />
Exemplary Professional Leadership<br />
Recognition in Legal Profession. In<br />
recognition of his passion, commitment<br />
and immeasurable exemplary personal<br />
sacrifice and positive legal professional<br />
contribution to fighting for equality,<br />
fairness and social justice for all.<br />
· Prof Ojo Emmanuel Ademola,<br />
Honorary Exemplary Professional &<br />
Community Leadership Recognition in<br />
academia and Cyber Security. In<br />
recognition of his immeasurable<br />
exemplary positive professional<br />
contribution to academic and<br />
community development.<br />
· Sandra Popoola OBE JP, Honorary<br />
Professional and Community<br />
Leadership Recognition. In recognition<br />
of her immeasurable exemplary sense<br />
of civic responsibility, volunteering,<br />
and positive professional contribution<br />
to the public sector and community<br />
development.<br />
· Kingsley Abrams, Honorary Political<br />
and Community Leadership<br />
Recognition. In recognition of his<br />
decades-long immeasurable exemplary<br />
positive contribution to community<br />
development, trade union movement<br />
and political activism.<br />
· Nadia Denton, Honorary Professional<br />
Leadership Recognition. In Creative<br />
Arts and Heritage. In recognition of her<br />
immeasurable exemplary outstanding<br />
positive professional contribution to the<br />
creative arts and heritage industry.<br />
· Peter Akinbowale, Honorary<br />
Professional Excellence & Leadership<br />
Recognition. In recognition of his<br />
immeasurable exemplary outstanding<br />
professional leadership excellence in<br />
the financial services sector, most<br />
especially in Mortgage Brokerage.<br />
· Arthur Torrington CBE, Honorary<br />
Lifetime Achievement Recognition. In<br />
appreciation of his immeasurable<br />
exemplary outstanding lifetime<br />
commitment and dedication to fighting<br />
for fairness and social justice for the<br />
Windrush generation who answered to<br />
the distress call of the motherland<br />
Britain for her rebuilding following<br />
devastation of the second world war.<br />
· Aline Ngaoba, Honorary Community<br />
Leadership to Volunteering. In<br />
recognition and appreciation of her<br />
consistent acts of selflessness and<br />
positive contribution to the<br />
Aline Naoba BBI ARA Awards Volunteer of the Year <strong>2023</strong> and Cllr Sunny Lambe, BBI Founder & Chief<br />
Executive<br />
Martin Forde KC, Kingsley Abrams, Honorary ARA Award Winners, family & friends<br />
Cllr Michael Situ, Mayor of Southwark, Cllr Yemi Osho MBE, Prince Mike Abiola, Ayan Ayabdosu (Mr<br />
Culture), Dr Sheriff Alabi and Princess Toyin Onagoruwa<br />
development of Building Blocks<br />
Initiative (BBI), Community and the<br />
Voluntary Sector for many years.<br />
A lucky winner went away with the<br />
mystery BBI ARA AWARDS<br />
AMBASSADOR OF THE YEAR <strong>2023</strong><br />
interactive competition trophy while<br />
some lucky winners walked away with<br />
the raffle prizes which included a donated<br />
FREE Night’s Stay at the Hilton London<br />
Kensington.<br />
<strong>The</strong> BBI’s annual Awards has become<br />
a much anticipated event within the<br />
Black and Minority Ethnic business and<br />
social calendar, bringing about<br />
community and industrial recognition,<br />
professional networking opportunities,<br />
social celebration and a spirit of<br />
togetherness.<br />
Among dignitaries present were Cllr<br />
Michael Situ, the Worshipful Mayor of<br />
Southwark accompanied by his deputy,<br />
Cllr Naima Ali. Among very important<br />
guests were Cllr Joy Laguda former<br />
Mayor Newham and her husband; Mrs<br />
Yemi Oso, former Mayor Waltham<br />
Forest; Dawn Grant, Black<br />
Economics and former award winner;<br />
Prince Mike Abiola of the African Voice;<br />
Femi Okutubo - Founder of both the<br />
GAB Awards and the <strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
<strong>Newspaper</strong>s; Jennifer Obaseki of the<br />
Obasaeki Solicitors; Joy Nichols,<br />
Founder and the Chief Executive of<br />
former Nichols Employment Agency;<br />
representatives of Kato Enterprises, the<br />
drinks sponsors; Ayan Ayandosu, (Mr<br />
Culture); and Anthony Everest,<br />
(AREMUORIN), the performing artist<br />
and winner of an award setting the stage<br />
alight with some cool live jazzy<br />
melodious tuned performance.<br />
Aremuorin’s performance was later<br />
complemented by a superb act from<br />
Aslan<br />
Nester making his debut at the ARA<br />
Awards.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Awards returned as a physical<br />
event following three years of virtual<br />
awards events forced by the COVID-19<br />
lockdown.<br />
Martin Forde KC, Kingsley Abrams, Honorary ARA<br />
Award Winners, family & friendsCllr Michael Situ,<br />
<strong>The</strong> Worshipful Mayor of Southwark & Olayomi<br />
Koiki of Koiki Media
Page6 <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> NOVEMBER <strong>29</strong> - DECEMBER <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong>
NOVEMBER <strong>29</strong> - DECEMBER <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong> <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
Page7
Page8 <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> NOVEMBER <strong>29</strong> - DECEMBER <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
Opinion<br />
Fixing the Power sector<br />
Following the three-day retreat<br />
held for Ministers, Special<br />
Advisers, Permanent<br />
Secretaries and heads of Agencies and<br />
Departments by President Bola<br />
Tinubu, rather belatedly, three weeks<br />
ago with the theme: “Delivering on<br />
the Renewed Hope Agenda” some of<br />
the Ministers have been jumping up<br />
and down, as if the Retreat was the<br />
shot in the arm they needed to shift<br />
out of their slumber. We have seen<br />
quite a number of body movements<br />
lately: from the Minister of Aviation<br />
and Aerospace, Festus Keyamo,<br />
telling the heads of agencies and<br />
parastatals under his Ministry that<br />
whoever wants to sabotage him<br />
through non-performance would be<br />
fired. <strong>The</strong> Minister of Women Affairs,<br />
Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye has also<br />
made a big show of launching<br />
tricycles and sewing machines to<br />
empower women – the Pink Riders<br />
Transport Scheme. Candidly, I don’t<br />
know how many women ride tricycles<br />
across Nigeria, but it is the pattern<br />
around here that policies are often<br />
rolled out without thought or reason<br />
or prior research. <strong>The</strong> Minister of<br />
Arts, Culture and Creative Economy,<br />
Hannatu Musawa has also launched a<br />
road map for the cultural sector. But<br />
the Ministry that is the focus of this<br />
piece is Power, and its new Minister,<br />
Adebayo Adelabu, grandson of the<br />
inimitable legend, Adegoke Adelabu,<br />
a stormy petrel of Nigeria’s First<br />
Republic/Ibadan/Western region<br />
politics and brilliant author of the<br />
book, Africa in Ebullition. It must<br />
have occurred to Adebayo Adelabu<br />
that as Power Minister, he too must be<br />
seen to be doing something. So,<br />
shortly after the Presidential retreat,<br />
he called a press conference where in<br />
a copy-cat manner, he read out a riot<br />
act to the heads of agencies under his<br />
Ministry with the tone of<br />
condescension already copyrighted<br />
by Festus Keyamo: anybody that does<br />
not support me will be fired!<br />
President Tinubu may have to call the<br />
mini-Emperors, closet Headmasters,<br />
in his cabinet to order. Going about<br />
intimidating people with threats is not<br />
how to be a Minister. One Minister<br />
has even turned himself into a quasimilitary<br />
administrator of the Federal<br />
Capital Territory!<br />
However, Minister Adelabu has<br />
shown some enthusiasm for the job,<br />
and he should be advised on the basis<br />
of the things that he has said. On<br />
<strong>November</strong> 8, he told his audience, in<br />
addition to the afore-mentioned threat<br />
that (2) President Tinubu has directed<br />
that stable electricity supply must be<br />
achieved before anyone can raise the<br />
issue of cost-reflective tariff, which<br />
should have been done before now,<br />
but with the present administration<br />
having removed fuel subsidy, it would<br />
be politically inexpedient to add to the<br />
people’s burden by increasing<br />
electricity tariffs. Hence, the Federal<br />
Government is subsidizing electricity<br />
up to N70 per kilowatt hour whereas<br />
the actual cost should be about<br />
N130/N140 per kilowatt hour. Indeed<br />
in 2015, President Buhari disallowed<br />
the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO).<br />
And (3), the Minister said it is<br />
shameful that Nigeria is generating<br />
just about 4,000 MW. Previously, he<br />
had promised that under his watch,<br />
Nigeria should have 20,000 MW of<br />
electricity supply by 2026; (4) he<br />
promised to investigate the legality of<br />
the five-year license extension of the<br />
licenses given to Discos and Gencos<br />
which expired on October 31, <strong>2023</strong>,<br />
and (5) he talked about government<br />
BY REUBEN ABATI<br />
playing a more central role in the<br />
electricity sector. “I am determined to<br />
make impact”, he reportedly said.<br />
I like his enthusiasm, but that is<br />
not enough. I have seen at least one<br />
detailed commentary, on aspects of<br />
the Minister’s rhetoric, notably<br />
Ijeoma Nwogwugwu’s “Penkelemesi<br />
in <strong>The</strong> Power Sector” (ThisDay, back<br />
page, Nov. 13). I want to add my<br />
voice to the conversation that my big<br />
worry is that Minister Adelabu has<br />
been sounding too strident as if he is<br />
a Regulator. No, he is not, and he has<br />
to resist the temptation to keep<br />
sounding as if he is from the Moon.<br />
<strong>The</strong> remit of the Minister is policy<br />
and helping to provide an enabling<br />
Continued on Page 10
News<br />
NOVEMBER <strong>29</strong> - DECEMBER <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
London raises awareness about<br />
voting system changes<br />
<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
Page9<br />
<strong>The</strong> Greater London Authority<br />
(GLA), in collaboration with Shout<br />
Out UK, London borough electoral<br />
services and a coalition of civil society<br />
organisations, has launched an impartial<br />
public awareness campaign seeking to aid<br />
under-represented and under-registered<br />
Londoners, including Black Londoners,<br />
access their right to vote. <strong>The</strong> campaign<br />
also enjoys support from faith leaders and<br />
community groups.<br />
<strong>The</strong> campaign launch is against the<br />
backdrop of the fact that: London has one<br />
of the lowest voter registration rates in<br />
England, with analysis from the GLA<br />
showing that close to one in five people (18<br />
per cent) from a Black, South Asian or<br />
Minority Ethnic background are at risk of<br />
losing their democratic voice because they<br />
are not registered to vote, compared to just<br />
five per cent of White British Londoners<br />
who are in the same situation.<br />
<strong>The</strong> campaign aims to let those from<br />
under-registered and under-represented<br />
groups, including Black Londoners, know<br />
about the need for eligible voters to register<br />
as a first step. This includes the option to<br />
register anonymously for those concerned<br />
about their name and address appearing on<br />
the electoral register.<br />
It will also highlight the new<br />
requirement to show an accepted form of<br />
photo ID to vote in person. This can be a<br />
UK, EU and Commonwealth passport; a<br />
UK and EU Driving Licence, a Blue Badge,<br />
Oyster 60+ photocard or a Freedom Pass.<br />
Almost one in four Black Londoners (27<br />
per cent) are currently unaware of the new<br />
need for photo ID to vote in person.<br />
<strong>The</strong> campaign will also advise on steps<br />
to apply for a free Voter Authority<br />
Certificate for Londoners who do not have<br />
one of the accepted forms of photo ID. Just<br />
one in five Londoners have heard of the<br />
free Voter Authority Certificates (20 per<br />
cent), and only four per cent have applied<br />
for one. Black Londoners are by far the<br />
most likely ethnic group to have either<br />
applied already or have a plan to apply.<br />
<strong>The</strong> campaign will reach Black<br />
Londoners across a variety of engagement<br />
methods and channels including social<br />
Accepted forms of Voter ID<br />
media, traditional media, grassroots<br />
community engagement and through a<br />
WhatsApp Democracy chatbot (+44 7908<br />
820 136). This includes accessible<br />
materials for Deaf and disabled Londoners,<br />
with resources available in Easy Read<br />
format and 16 community languages,<br />
including British Sign Language.<br />
Minister and Pastor Marjorie Esomowei<br />
- Co-Founder of Triumphant Church<br />
International emphasised that: “Voting is a<br />
Pastor Marjorie Esomowei<br />
method to reaffirm our civil rights and<br />
shape policies on issues like education,<br />
healthcare, housing and justice, and much<br />
more. Black Londoners are amongst those<br />
that are under-registered and underrepresented,<br />
with almost one in four Black<br />
Londoners currently unaware of the need<br />
for photo ID to vote in person. This means<br />
too many Black Londoners are at risk of<br />
losing the opportunity to exercise their<br />
democratic right to vote.<br />
We are proud to support the GLA Voter<br />
ID awareness campaign to ensure that<br />
Black Londoners have access to correct and<br />
reliable information so that we can increase<br />
confidence, literacy and action in this<br />
important matter. It’s really important that<br />
people take heed of this and act because, no<br />
vote, no voice.”<br />
<strong>The</strong>re are three simple steps to getting<br />
heard:<br />
Register to vote<br />
Check if you have an accepted form of<br />
photo voter ID<br />
If not, apply for the free Voter Authority<br />
Certificate<br />
Further information is available at the<br />
GLA Democracy Hub:<br />
https://registertovote.london/
Page10 <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> NOVEMBER <strong>29</strong> - DECEMBER <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
Opinion<br />
Fixing the Power sector<br />
Continued from Page 10<<br />
environment for the sector to thrive.<br />
Nigeria needs a reform-minded<br />
Minister in the power sector. <strong>The</strong><br />
Minister needs to break the jinx, and<br />
so, he cannot afford to gamble. <strong>The</strong><br />
road map for the electricity sector in<br />
Nigeria was put in place from<br />
Obasanjo to Jonathan as Presidents.<br />
<strong>The</strong> latter kick-started a<br />
comprehensive reform. But under<br />
President Buhari, the privatization<br />
and deregulation process got<br />
truncated, mismanaged, and turned<br />
upside down. Nothing worked<br />
because there was no proper<br />
coordination in the whole of eight<br />
years. Nigeria would need a<br />
minimum of about 42,000 MW to<br />
jump-start anything but here we are,<br />
at the level of 4,000 MW, far behind<br />
most African countries and yet our<br />
electricity needs, given our<br />
population, far outstrips the African<br />
average. South Africa with a<br />
population of 57.3 million people<br />
generates about 41,194 MW and that<br />
is not even enough for it. <strong>The</strong><br />
Minister is right when he describes<br />
the situation as shameful. It is<br />
embarrassingly obvious however that<br />
he has not been talking to industry<br />
stakeholders. Nigeria is not short of<br />
ideas. What we lack is effective<br />
implementation. He needs to set out<br />
by finding out what the problems are.<br />
Managing the electricity sector is a<br />
specialized job, and there are people<br />
in this country who know where the<br />
corpses are buried, and who the<br />
members of the dangerous cabal in<br />
that sector are. <strong>The</strong> more he talks, the<br />
more the cabal people will plot<br />
against him. He must ask questions<br />
from the regulatory agencies also:<br />
what is their roadmap? What<br />
happened to the original road map?<br />
He should study the terrain and<br />
simplify the issues through rigorous<br />
consultations. Why for example has<br />
the Electric Power Sector Reform Act<br />
of 2005, not worked? Who are the<br />
perpetrators of impunity, lapses and<br />
sabotage within the sector? <strong>The</strong>n he<br />
must clear the table: Nigeria’s<br />
electricity sector is corrupt. All the<br />
people feeding fat at the people’s<br />
expense, be they government officials<br />
or contractors must be identified and<br />
sanctioned through a proper,<br />
preliminary audit of performance<br />
Chief Adebayo Adelabu<br />
within the value-chain.<br />
Minister Adelabu can learn from<br />
the experience of two previous<br />
Ministers. He knows Bola Ige, SAN,<br />
orator, lawyer, statesman who was<br />
Minister of Mines and Power (1999 –<br />
2000). Upon assumption of office,<br />
Bola Ige of the Alliance for<br />
Democracy (AD), working for<br />
Obasanjo’s People’s Democratic<br />
Party (PDP) government boasted that<br />
he was going to fix Nigeria’s<br />
electricity problems in six months. He<br />
underestimated the problem. Those<br />
were the days of National Electric<br />
Power Authority (NEPA). It is<br />
commonly agreed that Bola Ige was<br />
sabotaged by the generator importers<br />
and contractors who were making<br />
humongous profits from Nigeria’s<br />
inefficiency. Chief Ige later became<br />
the Attorney General of the<br />
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Federation and Minister of Justice but<br />
his tenure in the Ministry of Mines<br />
and Power was a low point in his<br />
otherwise sterling career in Nigeria’s<br />
public space. <strong>The</strong> Obasanjo<br />
administration spent over $<strong>12</strong> trillion<br />
on the power sector in eight years.<br />
Everything went down the drain.<br />
Years later, when former Governor of<br />
Lagos, Babatunde Raji Fashola was<br />
appointed by President Muhammadu<br />
Buhari as Minister of Power, Works<br />
and Housing, and some people started<br />
suggesting that he had promised that<br />
he too would fix Nigeria’s power<br />
supply in six months; he quickly<br />
rushed to the media to say that he<br />
never said so. Buhari spent eight<br />
years but Nigeria still faces the crisis<br />
of epileptic power supply.<br />
In fairness to Fashola though, he<br />
prioritized consultation with<br />
stakeholders. He held regular sectoral<br />
meetings, even if those meetings<br />
eventually degenerated into conflicts<br />
between him and the distribution<br />
companies (DISCOs), but those<br />
meetings offered him a better<br />
understanding of the sector, even if<br />
the challenges in the sector were<br />
overwhelming. Adelabu must<br />
proceed with a sense of history. <strong>The</strong>re<br />
are other stakeholders in the sector<br />
that should be consulted: Dr. Ransom<br />
Owan, Dr Sam Amadi, both formerly<br />
of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory<br />
Commission (NERC), Ambassador<br />
Godknows Igali, former Permanent<br />
Secretary of the Ministry of Power,<br />
Engr. Beks Dagogo-Jack, former<br />
Chairman of the Presidential Task<br />
Force on Power and co-Chairman of<br />
the Committee on Gas to Power<br />
(20<strong>12</strong> - 2014), Professor Chinedu<br />
Nebo who handed over the assets of<br />
the Power Holding Company of<br />
Nigeria (PHCN), successor of NEPA,<br />
to private investors in <strong>November</strong><br />
2013, Rilwan Lanre Babalola who<br />
was Minister of Power 2008 to 2010,<br />
and a host of others. <strong>The</strong>y are in a<br />
position to show him where the<br />
corpses are buried in a sector that is<br />
practically a graveyard of hopes and<br />
aspirations! In his time, Professor<br />
Nebo, who is a man of the cloth<br />
promised that he would drive away<br />
the evil spirits in the power sector.<br />
Those evil spirits defied Nebo. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
are still there. <strong>The</strong> Minister also needs<br />
to find out what happened with the<br />
Rural Electrification Agency which<br />
became a cesspool of corruption.<br />
Every Minister comes along with the<br />
Continued on Page 15
NOVEMBER <strong>29</strong> - DECEMBER <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong> <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
Page11
Page<strong>12</strong> <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> NOVEMBER <strong>29</strong> - DECEMBER <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
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Page13
Page14 <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> NOVEMBER <strong>29</strong> - DECEMBER <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
Opinion<br />
<strong>The</strong> passable view of<br />
roads in Southwest<br />
Nigeria<br />
From time immemorial, the masses<br />
have relied on constituted<br />
governments to implement road<br />
projects for the socio-political economy<br />
of the society. Whichever government got<br />
the construction right would be praised<br />
while those who focused on the<br />
maintenance would also be eulogised by<br />
the masses. However, those who neither<br />
got the construction nor the maintenance<br />
right would be recorded in the psyche of<br />
the people. Hence the adage: ‘<strong>The</strong> king<br />
who sits on the throne in halcyon times,<br />
his name shall not be forgotten. Same for<br />
that whose reign is turbulent.’<br />
To say the truth, an emergency should<br />
be declared on the Nigerian roads.<br />
Without sounding alarmist, there is no<br />
road in any part of the country that is<br />
recommended, either as passable or<br />
standard; not even in Abuja, the nation’s<br />
seat of power. It is that bad! It is after we<br />
have accepted this that we may begin to<br />
appreciate the enormity of our problems.<br />
Whether “a Minister has more than three<br />
Land Cruisers, Prado and other<br />
vehicles” or a Senator Sunday Karimi<br />
“spends a lot on” his N160 million Prado<br />
Jeep “because our roads are bad” is<br />
perhaps the least of our problems.<br />
For God’s sake, how can we be<br />
talking about movement of goods and<br />
services when our roads have become<br />
appallingly impassable? How can we<br />
relish the domestic economy or may<br />
attract foreign investments to the country<br />
when our roads have practically become<br />
death traps, and the standard of living is<br />
affected immediately? Exchange is<br />
inhibited locally and physically if and<br />
when movement is impossible on a daily<br />
basis. Energy sector is an important<br />
driver of growth but, talking about the<br />
wonkiness of our development, power<br />
outages have sadly become Nigeria’s<br />
middle name. Even the waterways that<br />
are supposed to bridge the gap are already<br />
filled with filth.<br />
Once upon a time in Nigeria,<br />
whenever we said that a contract has been<br />
given to the Germans, the thinking then<br />
was that the Germans were full of iron<br />
and that the job they would do would be<br />
solid. It used to be with former President<br />
Muhammadu Buhari but, now, it is<br />
President Bola Tinubu. <strong>The</strong> question is:<br />
is it in terms of the structure or quality of<br />
the job that’s being done? In terms of<br />
Buhari and Tinubu, what do we now<br />
have?<br />
Ilesa – Ijebu-Jesa - Ado-Ekiti Road!<br />
Lagos – Abeokuta Road! Lagos –<br />
David Umahi - Nigeria's Works Minister<br />
Badagry Road! Lagos – Epe Road!<br />
Gbongan - Osogbo – Ilorin Road! <strong>The</strong><br />
Southwest is the worst hit! From Ibadan<br />
– Ogbomoso - Ilorin Road which has<br />
been under construction since my days at<br />
the University of Ilorin, to Ibadan – Ile-<br />
Ife – Akure Road which has been under<br />
construction for over 15 years, the trouble<br />
is that there’s no vision; and, where<br />
there’s no vision, one can’t really move<br />
because concrete vision signposts<br />
development. Evidently, it is because<br />
governance has lost its meaning that we<br />
continue to eat our seed instead of sowing<br />
it. And if we may ask: interconnectedness<br />
in the Southwest, is it anything to write<br />
home about for a country that has become<br />
independent since October 1, 1960?<br />
Chief Obafemi Awolowo died on May<br />
9, 1987. But isn’t it a big shame that, as of<br />
today, Saturday, October 28, <strong>2023</strong>,<br />
people still refer to ‘Awo Roads’? Bisi<br />
Akande also governed Osun State<br />
between 1999 and 2003. This is <strong>2023</strong>, yet<br />
Nigerians still refer to ‘Bisi Akande<br />
Roads’. Whereas elsewhere, people are<br />
talking about 14 lanes, what we have in<br />
the Southwest, which are mostly single<br />
lanes, remain unattended to. So, when<br />
exactly is Nigeria ever going to develop?<br />
If goods must exchange hands - and there<br />
must be exchange - how many roads are<br />
there, linking, say, Ijebu-Jesa to Ilesa in<br />
Osun State? We talk about Lagos-Ibadan<br />
Expressway, yet it is difficult to maintain<br />
it. So, where exactly are we developing<br />
into? Nigerians started fighting one<br />
another over subsidy and all kinds of<br />
indiscreet things. <strong>The</strong>y strived to earn<br />
resources, but … they didn’t know how<br />
to spend resources; and that’s<br />
unfortunate! Take it or leave it, ability to<br />
spend resources wisely is in itself an<br />
innovation and a motivation for<br />
development. <strong>The</strong>se are the issues!<br />
That Nigeria has no capacity to<br />
maintain its extant roads is a shame. It is<br />
also a shame that governance in this part<br />
of the world has lost its meaning. Of<br />
course, that’s what gave the military the<br />
effrontery that it could do and undo, and<br />
ignore the people. In his days as Nigeria’s<br />
Head of State, Yakubu Gowon didn’t<br />
know that Nigerians were so powerless<br />
Dualisation of the outstanding portion of Calabar–Odukpani–Itu–Ikot Ekpene Road<br />
until he was told that they were mere<br />
rabble-rousers, that they didn’t know<br />
much and that they were not in any way<br />
organised. Gowon was thankful to his<br />
informants. <strong>The</strong> rest is history! <strong>The</strong><br />
military predators who came after ‘Jack’<br />
only perfected the art. Is it any wonder<br />
that Nigeria has found herself in this<br />
mess?<br />
Back then, only in extreme cases<br />
would the military roll out tanks and fire<br />
one or two bullets in the air before<br />
everybody would talk to his or her feet<br />
because nobody wanted to die. As such,<br />
nobody wanted to know what his or her<br />
rights entailed, and that’s even if they<br />
knew that they had any rights in the first<br />
place. So, it is simple mathematics that<br />
BY ABIODUN<br />
KOMOLAFE<br />
where we have now found ourselves has<br />
a history. We are where we are because<br />
our leaders are asleep. But again,<br />
everything boils down to visionary<br />
leadership. It is the lack of vision that has<br />
brought Nigeria to her knees. Contractors<br />
look for higher pay in Nigeria, not<br />
because higher pay will make the job<br />
better, but higher pay will surely balloon<br />
the leisure; and that’s annoying. Until we<br />
change that orientation, nothing is going<br />
to change.<br />
Nigerians have been thrown into the<br />
mud due to lack of concrete knowledge.<br />
Tragically, to rise from the mud is a very<br />
difficult voyage. It is like a struggling<br />
man from the swamp. But it is<br />
achievable; and it is never too late. So, let<br />
the architects come with plain sheets of<br />
paper to, say, the National Stadium in<br />
Lagos or Liberty Stadium in Ibadan with<br />
a view to recalibrating the roads for the<br />
Southwest. What are we saying? That I<br />
used to go through this place in the past<br />
doesn’t matter. If we don’t have people<br />
who can dream, then we are in trouble.<br />
Surely, the entire roads can be redrawn to<br />
reflect modern reality; and that’s what<br />
development in the Southwest is all<br />
about. It is eternally on; and it will never<br />
stop. To stop is for development to stop.<br />
But nothing stops and rests except in<br />
docile societies.<br />
To sum up, it needs to be noted that,<br />
except one wants to be mischievous, the<br />
opposition now has a credible landing<br />
site. <strong>The</strong> Supreme Court said it; and that<br />
settled it. As things stand, nobody will<br />
say that the Atiku Abubakars and the<br />
Peter Obis of Nigeria ran away from the<br />
battle. No, not at all! Instead, they waited<br />
for the highest court in the land; and<br />
that’s all! <strong>The</strong>y have fought a good fight<br />
and it has ended. Impliedly, Tinubu has<br />
no excuses again. Let him now get to<br />
work. Let him work diligently at fixing<br />
our roads. Those who can work with the<br />
President, let them stay while those who<br />
have nothing to offer again should look<br />
for where their expertise will be in high<br />
demand. And for Nigerians, the only<br />
hope is to keep trying and keep pushing<br />
until it bursts. After all, it is in the history<br />
of revolutions: even when one is not<br />
expecting things to burst, something will<br />
surely give.<br />
May the Lamb of God, who takes<br />
away the sin of the world, grant us peace<br />
in Nigeria!
Opinion<br />
Fixing the Power sector<br />
NOVEMBER <strong>29</strong> - DECEMBER <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
<strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong><br />
Page15<br />
Continued from Page 14<<br />
promise to improve electricity supply<br />
but the only people who benefit from<br />
all the investments are corrupt people<br />
within the value chain. It has become<br />
fashionable to blame the DISCOs,<br />
who occupy the last mile of electricity<br />
delivery, but the problem is not with<br />
the DISCOs.<br />
Has the Minister bothered to find<br />
out what happened or is happening to<br />
the Transmission Company of Nigeria<br />
(TCN)? <strong>The</strong> Nigerian Government<br />
appointed Manitoba, a Canadian<br />
Company to manage power<br />
transmission in Nigeria – a<br />
management contract of over $200<br />
million. Money was released to<br />
Manitoba but the company was never<br />
allowed to function. It could not<br />
execute all the projects that it was<br />
supposed to manage and deliver<br />
upon. Manitoba has since left Nigeria<br />
out of frustration. <strong>The</strong> Transmission<br />
Company is now unfortunately in the<br />
hands of government officials, the<br />
same old NEPA officials whose<br />
cognomen is “Never Expect Power<br />
Always.” <strong>The</strong>re must be an audit of<br />
TCN as soon as possible, and an<br />
urgent probe of all persons who have<br />
subverted government policy. Nigeria<br />
cannot continue to move from<br />
darkness to darkness – the<br />
unfortunate reality that we are dealing<br />
with is that there are incompetent<br />
people in the value chain. And how<br />
effective is the interface between<br />
TCN and the GENCOs and DISCOs?<br />
What happened to loans disbursed in<br />
the past? <strong>The</strong> other major challenge is<br />
the supply of gas. <strong>The</strong> Governor of<br />
Niger State has been asking for a<br />
share of the Derivation Fund because<br />
his State hosts hydro dams, and he<br />
thinks his people deserve more from<br />
the national cake because of the hydro<br />
dams in Kainji, Jebba, and Shiroro in<br />
his State. Some of these Nigerian<br />
Governors and Ministers sound like<br />
they just left primary school, but that<br />
is not the focus of this piece today.<br />
<strong>The</strong> truth is that in the power sector,<br />
the main source of power is gas-fired<br />
power – that is thermal power which<br />
relies on natural gas to generate<br />
electricity – about 85% gas as<br />
opposed to 15% hydro. Nigeria’s<br />
thermal plants include Olorunsogo,<br />
Geregu, Egbin, Omotosho, Afam, and<br />
Sapele. But gas supply is a problem, a<br />
big constraint for the GENCOS, in<br />
part because gas supply has not been<br />
decoupled from oil.<br />
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has<br />
been discussing the power sector with<br />
the Germans. Olaf Scholz, the<br />
German Chancellor was in Nigeria on<br />
a State visit in October. Nigeria and<br />
Germany have had strong bilateral<br />
relations for more than 60 years.<br />
Recently, President Tinubu also<br />
travelled to Germany to attend the<br />
Compact with Africa summit on the<br />
sidelines of the G-20 meeting. He and<br />
Chancellor Scholz met again and one<br />
of the issues they discussed was<br />
Nigeria’s power sector and<br />
specifically Nigeria’s deal with<br />
Siemens, the German company with<br />
which the Buhari administration<br />
entered into an agreement – a threephase<br />
plan to provide electricity in<br />
Nigeria. <strong>The</strong> agreement was signed<br />
under what was called the<br />
Presidential Power Initiative (PPI).<br />
By that plan it was expected that by<br />
<strong>2023</strong>, Siemens would have provided<br />
up to 11,000 MW. We are at year-end.<br />
That has not happened. Even the idea<br />
of mini-grids has not worked.<br />
Siemens is an equipment company,<br />
not a Transmission company, not a<br />
DISCO, but everyone refers to how<br />
that company has helped the<br />
electricity generation process in<br />
Egypt. Siemens has not worked well<br />
here because it is mired in Nigeria’s<br />
complex web of zero transparency<br />
and lack of accountability. As it<br />
turned out, Nigeria started adding<br />
other things, talking about local<br />
content. Which local content? What<br />
does Nigeria produce as local content<br />
in the electricity sector? <strong>The</strong>n,<br />
COVID-19. <strong>The</strong>n the Russia-Ukraine<br />
War. And then, no magic from<br />
Siemens. <strong>The</strong> German Chancellor<br />
reportedly told President Tinubu that<br />
generating the electricity is not the<br />
problem but Nigeria has to follow<br />
through at its end. He was absolutely<br />
right. Everything is about us. We<br />
have to follow through. Minister<br />
Fashola managed to plug some<br />
missing links in distribution because<br />
he paid attention. Adelabu must pay<br />
attention to details.<br />
What is the way forward? <strong>The</strong><br />
Minister must sit down with<br />
stakeholders. When they call him, he<br />
should have enough presence of mind<br />
to return their calls. He is holding a<br />
public office, not a private office. He<br />
must also work hard to dismantle the<br />
cartels in the sector. <strong>The</strong> industry<br />
needs to be more investor-friendly,<br />
and it is the duty of the Ministry to<br />
create an enabling environment. In<br />
addressing petty corruption in the<br />
sector, government also needs to<br />
focus on energy theft. More than 50%<br />
of the meters supplied so far to<br />
consumers are being by-passed.<br />
Nobody really wants to pay for<br />
electricity because the chaos in the<br />
sector is well known. To break the<br />
jinx, the TCN must be handed over to<br />
concessionaires. TCN and the<br />
Nigerian Gas Company are controlled<br />
by government. It is not clear how the<br />
industry can make progress if<br />
government continues to constitute<br />
itself into an obstacle. <strong>The</strong> Minister<br />
wants to review the extension of<br />
licenses. If he had done his homework,<br />
he would have discovered that<br />
the extension is the result of a mutual<br />
agreement between government and<br />
the DISCOs – both parties having<br />
failed to fulfil their own parts of the<br />
bargain since 2013.<br />
Going forward, the Tinubu<br />
administration must come up with a<br />
National Position on Power beyond<br />
the general statements in the <strong>2023</strong><br />
election campaign manifesto. At<br />
pages 30 to 32 of the Renewed Hope<br />
Manifesto, Tinubu promised to<br />
eliminate the disconnect between<br />
generation and distribution, provide<br />
support for meter asset providers,<br />
investment for power in rural areas,<br />
power sector governance reforms, and<br />
what is generally described as<br />
“Nigeria First Power Policy.” I<br />
suggest that the President should set<br />
up a National Council on Power<br />
Reforms which will report directly to<br />
him, to begin a much-needed<br />
conversation about and around the<br />
electricity sector.
Page16 <strong>The</strong><strong>Trumpet</strong> NOVEMBER <strong>29</strong> - DECEMBER <strong>12</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
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