Fig: A NEPA Sub-station
Before you crucify me, I know that ‘NEPA no longer exists’
at the moment, at least in name. But I deliberately choose to retain the name
as a matter of philosophy, in protest if you like, and why not? The change we
desire is in service not necessarily in name. How?
When the federal government of Nigeria unbundled the
leviathan called NEPA, or PHCN depending on your predisposition, not a few
Nigerians were exhilarated at the prospects of bringing in the much needed
efficiency into an institution that had clearly failed the people dismally. The
dismemberment was subsequently followed by the privatization of the successor
companies further heightening the expectations of the people. And, would
you blame the beaten populace for having such high hopes? According to the
Vietnamese born global spiritual leader, poet and peace activist, Thich Nhat
Hanh, “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult
to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship
today.” At the end of hope are violence, anarchy and suicidal proclivities.
Besides, there had been a precedent.
Prior to the licensing of the GSM operators in 2001, Nigeria
had a total of about 425000 telephone lines made up of some 400000 fixed lines
and 25000 analogue mobile lines for its 120 million people translating to a
tele-density of about 0.3%. The first time I used a phone was while I was in my
third year in the University! To make my first ever telephone call, I had to queue
up at a NITEL office for some 1 odd hour waiting for my turn! Then enter the
GSM operators, initially very expensive. I recall the unfortunate bomb explosions
at the Ikeja military cantonment in 2002. I was then engaged in my mandatory,
one year national service. Although the GSM operators were already licensed and
in operation, I could not yet afford a mobile phone because the prices were
prohibitive; SIM cards cost as much as 20000 to 25000 naira, the cheapest handsets
cost about as much or even higher while call rates were generally 50 naira per
minute; the mobile operators insisted per second billing was impossible. After
the bomb blasts, it took my traumatised mother several days to reach me through
my office line in order to confirm that I am safe! How can we ever forget the
multitudes that met their avoidable, untimely death in that melee? The deaths
were avoidable because they were largely a result of lack of information. Today,
we have phones for 2000 naira and less; SIM cards are given away free. Telephone
subscriber base stands at 152,467,198 as at March 2017 with a tele-density
of 108.91% for the same period, contributing a whopping 9.8% of GDP as at June
2016 according to official statistics from the NCC. The meaning of these
figures is that virtually every Nigeria has a phone, majority with smart phones, except for the underage and
people outside coverage areas. If that bomb incident were to happen today, the information would be in everybody's fingertip in minutes minimising the damage. Nigerians
are clearly happy with this turn of events in the telecommunication sector.
It was against this backdrop that Nigerians wholeheartedly
welcomed the privatisation of the NEPA, excuse my insistence on using NEPA, for
since the new entities that took over have chosen to clamp services at the
level of NEPA or even worse, why should I bother dignifying them with a name
change? I would rather continue to associate them with the shame of NEPA until
they elevate their services above that level. Anyway, back to the point. The righteous
expectation of Nigerians was that the privatisation of NEPA will usher in the
kind of growth and development recorded in the telecommunication industry bringing
both improvement availability and ultimately reducing costs per kilowatt. There
was the expectation that the cost would be high initially but will start to
reduce over time following the GSM template.
But what have we seen in reality? Join me in part 2 of this series…
Chinedu Asogwa - teamupafrica@gmail.com
