Griping about PHCN is our favourite pastime in this country. PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria for the less informed) is a guaranteed conversation starter when you’re at a loss for words.
Hey, Jimmy, how are you?
Fine. You, nko?
Great.
Awkward silence.
So how’s PHCN in your area?
And there are a million, million reasons why PHCN doesn’t work. The Generator Importing Cabal won’t let it. The diesel and petrol importers won’t let it. Government won’t let it. And so on and so forth. Everyone but the man on the street is guilty, it seems. And apparently, uninterrupted power is the pixie dust we have to sprinkle on Nigeria to solve all her problems. It would encourage investors, improve local industries, reduce the cost of living, lower tariffs, improve healthcare, provide jobs, enhance education, cure malaria, solve the Middle-East Crisis… Ok, you get the drift. And I’m not arguing against any of these, I’m just saying we haven’t thought the whole power thing through.
It’s all fair and dandy to bash PHCN over doing a poor job of electricity generation and distribution. But how well have we done our job of energy consumption? Being consumers doesn’t end at plugging our appliances into the sockets and getting on the distribution grid. Being consumers demands that we plug in appliances that are power-efficient, and only when they are needed. Do I hear mea culpa? I should. Because we are energy-wasters, in all the meanings of that word. And I fear that 24-7 power gives us only more energy to waste.
Why should streetlights be on at 2 pm, and security lights stay on all day? Imagine if those lights being powered all day by PHCN, with its relatively lower cost per kilowatt-hour. Do you see what I mean? We have a culture of abuse, and this culture should be attacked pari passu with the lack of power. It’s not too hard to envision people leaving home and leaving the air-conditioning on because the weather’s so bloody hot. It’s not too difficult to imagine people getting giddy on the prospects of always having power and then rushing out to buy as many appliances as they can afford, appliances that, more often than not, are
1. faulty, second-hand models,
2. old, energy-wasting models or
3. Chinese brands that have been rejected from Europe and America because of non-compliance with energy consumption standards.
And we have well-established precedents in this issue of nonchalance about energy issues. The Toyota Prius has been on the international market since 1997 and I can probably count in the tens how many are in the country, despite it being the most fuel-efficient car in the world according to industry standards. The Hummer, on the other hand, one of the most notoriously un-green vehicles in the world, is a crowd favourite. Every day, the average Lagosian spend four hours in traffic because there are too many vehicles on the roads, most of them carrying single passengers. What does that say about our mentality?
I think it says that we don’t care about energy, aren't concerned that global warming could kill us, or choose to ignore that may be the reason the weather’s so hot is because of the gas flaring we’re doing down in the delta. And so I say, till we learn to appreciate the little power we do have, and conserve it, then we don’t need more. (There! I said it, somebody drive a stake through my heretical heart!)
While we’re waiting for the pixie dust that is PHCN, how about pressuring our legislators into passing bills that support energy conservation and efficiency? Like banning substandard appliances (do we even have standards?). Like imposing tolls on vehicles that don’t pass carbon emission standards (do we even have?). Like creating special lanes not unlike the BRT’s for vehicles that hold at least four people so that workers are encouraged to carpool. And making general concessions for good energy practices. I can’t think of anything else now. Maybe you can.
‘Nuff said.
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