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Oil Pipe Blast in Lagos and the Energy Crisis By Engr. Obadiah Oghoerore Alegbe By Engr. Obadiah Oghoerore Alegbe africanprojects@oviri.com.ar The recent oil pipe blast in Lagos show how desperate Nigerian are to make few Naira. For a country that produce such a high amount of crude oil to have its citizens desperate to make money by all means is a pointing finger that government may have abandoned the people. When oil pipe blast at Ijerhre(Ijese), Oviri court and Sapele, Urhobo people were accused of being thieves and criminals, the Lagos blast proved them wrong, it has nothing to do with tribe, Nigerians are desperate, and some of these occurrences are signs of social explosion that people are demanding solutions and not promises from the economic team of the President directed by World Bank (a bad of crooks). We all know that there is urgent need for the production of energy in Nigeria but many of those in charge of designing and executing the plans and policy of the production of energy do not seem to know where to begin from. Nigeria is a country under the siege of ex-military officers who continue to believe that they have the birthright to the Presidency of the nation when they are the ones that turned Nigeria into an ungovernable country. The situation is compounded by our professors parading the country for political appointment making us believe that they have solutions to the compound problems facing Nigeria. Nigeria is in absolute darkness and the government should understand that those in charge of bringing solution to the problem have failed the nation. My appreciation is not personal to anyone, I am speaking as a citizen that wants things done and solution given to our people. Some of us a making our voices known that we can handle the problem but no one wants to hear. It is time to know that we must declare war on underdevelopment as Argentines say "Caiga quien caiga, salvemos a la patria" , which mean fall who must fall, let us save our homeland. I have read of the web pages, opposing sides in Nigeria with one saying that power lose is mostly over transmission lines while the other refuses to accept that view. The fact is that it is true that energy is wasted over transmission lines, but reasons must be explained to Nigerians on why. Nevertheless, many copy and paste papers on energy in search of political appointments in government. The result is no solution for the people. Nigeria needs engineering solutions from engineers that have always made love to machines, that are never afraid of machines, that can interact with engines. This government is on the last curve of its relay race, a new government has to be formed in Nigeria, I appeal to Nigerian politicians to take Nigeria to heart and thus when they form government, there must be a policy based on the people and ministerial position should be given not to those who present papers for solution but those who have solutions to our problems. The Senate should ask those nominated to explain how they will solve our complex problems, the Minister of Economy and Finance should tell us how mama alakara will benefit from the policy and if by a year there is no improvement, they must be fired and charged to court for wasting the people' s time and resources. If the Minister of Industry, Mines and Power can not produce impact on the people in the villages, he/she must be fired and charged to court for wasting our resources and time. The Minister of health should show that our hospitals are working well else be fired and charge to court for wasting our resources. We are at war against underdevelopment and there is not time for appointments that will make Nigeria a laboratory for experiments. My Proposals:- A national commission on energy and industrial development should be formed directly under the presidency to tackle the energy and industrial problem in Nigeria. I offer to head such a commission under some conditions:- 1.. It must be a contract of five years with the government. 2.. The appointment must be agreed upon by all political parties. 3.. The next government will respect the contract and may renew it if it seem deem. a) If I head such a commission, I will spend the first two months to form a team of Engineers to whom I will present a comprehensive project on energy and industry for the nation. b) The team shall organize the people into private sector for the people of Nigeria to take their destiny into their hands and based on African idiosyncrasy they must get involved in energy and industrial production with the guide of the commission. We do not need ENRON. We shall write and sing our own songs with a few help from our friends abroad. This could take effect in few months. c) After the organization of simple grassroots groups, we shall introduce to the solution that suits their locality, we shall help them to produce their own energy and industries. Nigeria will then be in the hands of Nigerians. We shall get Nigerian involved from micro-industry to nuclear technology. I have all the engineering needed to start. If by one year, I could not justify my position, I must be fired and charged to court for wasting the time and resources of the people. There are experiences all over the world that we can tap and we can translate them. Before I end, I want Nigerians my people to know that Nigeria needs 250 billion US Dollars for every inhabitant to have access to stable energy. Under conventional production, the solution could take 200 years to have a country that we can be proud of. We would all be gone by then but our descendants will surely not be slaves. A more dynamic approach to solve the energy problems needs a lot of sacrifice and could take 50 years. I have an approach such that if we get all the people involved and I go through the commission and Nigerians can produce the 250 billion dollars in ten years and we shall start to feel the presence of energy and industry in some forms in the country and with the help of the legislature, there could be legislation that empower the people and in five years time there will be a big smile on the face of Nigeria. We shall start a dynamic system that the people will keep alive. There will be boom of grassroots based micro-industries and in 10 years, Nigeria will be a world power. Nigerians should wake up to reality. I am. Engr. Obadiah Oghoerore Alegbe africanprojects@oviri.com.ar |