Suicidal Mistakes of Power Distribution Companies

Substandard Power Grid. Source: Seaart.

He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house – Proverbs 15: 27

I connected to the national grid in 2014. I was on estimated billing. My meter came in 2017. I noticed I needed 32 units of electricity every month. I kept adding the gadgets I needed to live a cosy life and my power needs rose to about 90 units a month. With the current categorized billing tariff that puts me on Band A, I have to pay about twenty thousand naira every month.  I am law-abiding. So, I have accepted it, despite the tariff digging a huge hole in my pocket.

But now, I coil and boil when I see neighbours using all manner of gadgets and paying five times less than I pay because they are on estimated billing. The interpretation in my mind is that I am paying for the un-metered neighbours. The use of meters for others when others are on estimated billing is a suicidal decision of power distribution companies.

Initially, meters were free. Sadly, getting it was so difficult you had to pay a bribe. Millions of consumers never got the meters as a result since the bribes required was very high. When the ogas realized that the staff were taking money to issue meters that were supposed to be free, they suddenly changed the policy to demand customers pay for meters. But, rather than clearing old customers before the policy takes effect, the company included them among customers to pay for the meters. It is a violation of their rights and is a suicidal mistake.

When power consumers started getting categorized into bands so that consumers on Band A pay a thousand naira for just 4.4 units of electricity, it was on the condition that the distribution companies supply at least 20 hours of electricity a day. The terms go on to add that should a distribution company fail to live up to this contract, there should be an automatic reversal to the old status. The distribution companies only lived up to the agreement for a couple of months before the national grid started failing. Yet, there hasn’t been any reversal of tariff as was agreed. This is a suicidal mistake.

It is the duty of power distribution companies to take electric power to communities –they are the distribution companies. That is never done. Power consumers buy poles and cables and still pay staff of power distribution companies for installation. It also means that the companies are not willing to improve their operations. This puts the selfishness of power distribution companies on a giant screen for everyone to see. Transferring the distribution of power to the consumers and waiting to only bill them is a huge suicidal mistake.   

Despite the huge profits power distribution companies declare, (over a trillion naira by the end of 2023) they are still not interested in improving working conditions for their staff. The offices look very filthy, unbefitting for humans and shameful to the reputation of the companies. Salaries are still miserably poor with the workers not being able to pay bills. The result is that the staff have joined hands with defrauded and embittered consumers. As a result, directives from the top never sink down to the bottom where it is intended. The consumers prefer to bribe field staff to get soft landings. Refusing to improve staff welfare in the midst of plenty is brazenly selfish and a suicidal mistake of the distribution companies.  

Proverb 15 verse 27 says: he that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house.

How to Identify a Scammer

My Fake Parcel from the UK

Someone presenting himself as a white woman from the UK sent me a friendship request on Facebook. I just told myself, “Here come the scammers again.” But I was curious to see how it goes –it could be legit.

She told me she would want us to become friends. That her husband was involved in a road accident was rushed to India and failed to make it. So, she wants someone to share her life with, someone to be the father of her kids. She asked if I was married or single. I said I was divorced.

The first reason to be suspicious: she has only one friend on Facebook and I am the second.

The second reason to be suspicious: my cover photo on Facebook is of myself and my wife on our wedding day and the profile photo is of me and my daughter. Why was she asking if I were single?

She said she wanted us to be chatting via i-chat on an Apple computer and asked if I had an Apple computer. I told her the computer I have is a Toshiba laptop. She said she would send me an Apple computer if I promised to chat with her so we could get to know each other better.

The third reason to be suspicious: it doesn’t matter what computer is used for chatting.

I told her I wouldn’t mind if she sent me that computer. She requested my trust again. I assured her. As our conversation progressed, she informed me that she had sent the computer together with the iPhone 12 and 3000 pounds to pay for the delivery when it arrived. After doing my conversion to naira, I saw that I was going to be a millionaire. At that point, I became afraid for my life. These things could be delivered truly. But it could get complicated with me ending up with the police. Long-throat couldn’t let me. So, I followed along.

She messaged me, giving details of what she had sent including a photo of the parcel. She informed me of the need to call Customer Care to tell them I was expecting my parcel. She sent me the number to call. That was in the night at about 9PM. But I didn’t call because it was late. Early in the morning, someone called, speaking in decent English, albeit with a mild Yoruba accent, as would be expected of a Lagosian who is educated. He also demonstrated an understanding of how couriers are handled. He asked where I live. I told him that I live in Jos. So, he told me to come to Lagos and get my parcel. But I told him that Lagos is too far and asked if it wasn’t possible for them to send it to Jos. He said it would cost me N35500 and that he was going to send me the Kuda account number to which I would send the money. My delivery will come at about 10 AM, about four hours later. But the situation was so urgent and I felt I was being rushed, not giving adequate time to think. Truecaller revealed the identity of the line as “Nigerian Airways.”

There were questions in my mind: does the Nigerian Airways still exist? If it does, does it handle couriers?

The fourth reason to be suspicious: he asked to confirm if my parcel was made up of an Apple computer and iPhone 12. Is he supposed to know the contents of the parcel? The only way would be if he opened it. The person sending the delivery said he included 3000 pounds and I shouldn’t tell them. So, if he opened the parcel to know its contents, he must have also seen the money. So, I wouldn’t be a millionaire, after all.

So, I asked myself some questions that led me to understand that it was clearly a scam: Was the person sending the parcel someone I had known before? Why should I pay money to someone I have not met and who is far away in Lagos? If there is a problem, how would I meet the person to resolve the situation? In conclusion, I resolved not to pay the money until the parcel is delivered.

This was our last conversation that confirmed he is a rogue:

Me: “Can’t I pay the money on delivery?”

Him: “No, we accept payment before delivery.”

There was a break of about five seconds with neither me nor he speaking.

Me: “I am sorry. I can’t pay for something I have not seen. Sent it so that I pay when it comes.”

Him: “We don’t do that.”

Me: “OK. Forget it.”

Him: “OK, make half payment.”

“Make part payment! ” was clearly an act of desperation for someone trying not to lose all. Corporate policies are not easily bent that way. I immediately end the call.

 The bottom line on how to identify a scammer: IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, YOU DON’T KNOW THE PERSON, BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO BE THE FIRST TO PART WITH MONEY. 

 

Why the Christian-Muslim Ticket Doesn’t Work in Plateau State

The Muslim-Muslim Ticket of Tinubu and Shettima

Nigerian is a nation where politics flows along religious and tribal canals. The sitting President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is a Muslim and picked a Muslim running mate during his election. This is something that is happening for the first time in the history of the democratic presidency in Nigeria. The issue has generated tons of conversations in favour of and against. The President, however, chose his running mate based on his calculation of how to secure victory.

I saw a video of an Islamic preacher from Kaduna State talking about why Kaffirs (referring to Christians) hate Mallam Nasiru El Rufai. He said that El Rufai is hated by Christians because he refused to take a Christian running mate and still won the election. The Sheik asked why it is expected of Kaduna when that doesn’t happen in Plateau State.

Well, I think he acted in ignorance.  There are three reasons why Muslims are not taken as running mates in Plateau State.

First reason is the fact that politicians work with numbers that will give them victory. In Plateau State, there are about forty tribes, but five stand out as majority. These are Berom, Taroh, Ngas, Mwaghavul, and Gomai. Since, our politics often follow tribal lines, a gubernatorial candidate would want to pick from any of these tribes to ensure victory.

Second reason is the fact that the Muslims consider it distasteful, giving their votes to a non-Muslim. In the decades since the coming of democracy in Nigeria, Plateau Muslims prefer bringing out a Muslim candidate and casting the bulk of their votes to him, despite knowing it wouldn’t be enough to secure victory. So, a gubernatorial candidate wouldn’t want to pick a Muslim running mate since it doesn’t change the opinion of his Muslim brothers. He would prefer picking from any of the five tribes.

The third reason why chances of a Muslim securing the seat of a running mate in Plateau State is difficult is the fact that Plateau people believe that, across this  country, a Plateau man has never been chosen as a running mate (and will never be)  in any of the remaining thirty-five states. So, why should it be different in Plateau State?

Mohbad: The Difficulty of a Guilty Verdict

Mohbad. Creit: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/

Everyone expects Naira Marley, the Nigerian Afrobeat sensation and CEO of Marlian Records, ending up on the gallows or at least spend the rest of his life or a greater part of it in jail.  This follows the sudden death of Mohbad, an artist signed to Marlian Records, a music recording label owned by Naira Marley. Mohbad died in a mysterious situation at a prime age of twenty seven.

By now, everyone knows Mohbad had reported that Marlian Records tried to end his life, following a visit he made to Naira Marley’s house. Months later, he died. Right now, the prime suspect is Marley and his close associates, one of which is a guy named Sam Larry.

The point now is that, when Mohbad died, there was no physical harm done to him –no gun shot, no stab, no gore... What is suspected is that he performed somewhere in Lagos where juju could have been used to end his life. But also, an ear infection is suspected. The law works only in the real world, but not in the realm of spirits. So, the possibility of juju as the cause of his death will definitely be thrown away. If however, the prosecution lawyer can prove that Marley is responsible for the ear infection or link Marley to other evidences that could come to the surface in the course of the investigation, then Marley would have to pay for it. 

Surprisingly, there are protests globally for justice –we never knew he was that famous. However, in death he became extremely famous. Another shocking part of his story is the fact that he has a song that talks about his death and the rumors in the aftermath.

Some media stations –radio and TV– have banned airing of Marley’s music, concluding that Naira Marley is responsible for Mohbad’s death. Among them are MTV Base and Sound City. I don’t expect that from huge organizations such as these. At most, they could have just kept quiet but prefer not to play the songs pending the outcome of the verdict that is sure to last for months, if not years.

Anyone can be responsible, assuming it is a case of killing in cold blood. It could be the Marlian Record team, but it could be someone totally unconnected to these guys. Sometimes, when you pronounce that someone is after your life, some other enemies could take advantage of the circumstance and strike, knowing the law wouldn’t look in their direction.  But it could be Marley and his team, using people who are close to the target to get him, using, perhaps, a biological weapon like an ear infection. But it could be a poison on a meal Mohbad was served. As a recording label, Marlian Records has a lot of money and could deploy that to search for advance approaches anywhere around the world.

Naira Marley understands the place of evidence in judicial processes. When he was arrested for saying that internet fraud is not really a crime, he was eventually released and went on to sing a song with a line that says, “Am I a Yahoo boy? No evidence.”   So, the prosecution has a tall mountain to climb in order to nail Marley as the man who ordered the killing of his former record company signee.

Chatham House: Tinubu Did Nothing Wrong

 

Bola Ahmed Tinubu

There is an undying noise across Nigeria, regarding Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s conduct at Chatham House. Tinubu, the All Progressive Congress’ (APC’s) Presidential Candidate in the 2023 General Elections in Nigeria, forwarded questions he was asked to members of his team. In Nigeria, a lot of people see it as a sign of ineptitude by someone seeking to become the Nigerian President.

But there’s really nothing wrong with Tinubu’s conduct at Chatham House. It is important for Nigerians to understand that all the persons to whom he directed the questions are members the APC. A political party is a team of persons who are ‘fighting’ for power. People in the same political party are driven by a common wish for the nation. So, they pool themselves into a strong force with the propensity to achieve their goal of setting up a government and unleashing their common idea.  When eventually the government is formed, the same group of persons will form the cabinet. It is the cabinet that, as a team, makes decision on how a country is governed, not an individual.

If Tinubu becomes president and decides not to allow other members of the cabinet to make contributions, he would be referred to as a despot. Democracy itself is a space that allows contributions from everyone. By relaying questions to other members of the campaign team, he is already demonstrating that he will run a government of inclusivity.

Someone argued that the party doesn’t have any ideology. That the team is a group of guys who failed to find positions in other parties and, hence, found an umbrella in the APC. The most important thing is that they have come together. If there are differences among them, coming together will compel them to prune the differences so that they can move along. Furthermore, cross-carpeting is a tradition in Nigerian politics. It is not peculiar to the APC.

Someone, opposed to how Tinubu conducted himself, compared Tinubu’s visit to Chatham House to attending a job interview and should not refer questions thrown at him to other persons. The situations aren’t similar. Someone seeking to become President will oversee a country of diverse institutions. He is not trained to have knowledge in the affairs of every institution. Instead, he relies on members of his cabinet with experiences in these institutions to help him run the country well.  There is no single president anywhere who ran a solitary government successfully. There are always diverse group of professionals with whom the president builds his team to run the country well. Tinubu proved that he will not be an exception.

As said before, Nigeria has run a political system without ideologies. From 1999 till date, there are only a few politicians who endured without changing a political party. Most of them ran to other political parties and later returned to the same party they had deserted.

What do the electorates do? The electorates will have to take part of the blame for a stagnant political system. If we search deeply, there are other political parties with younger politicians offering modern ideas that meet the standard we are yearning for. Unfortunately, Nigerians are unable to read the policy content of these new political parties. They lazily shove them aside and continue to give attention to the same politicians from an old political culture that has ruined the country for decades.

Until the electorates play their own roles well, blames against certain politicians will never stand.

A Letter from a Mathematics Teacher to WAEC

Students writing examinations.

 As a teacher, I have watched unsavoury trends over time, which have pushed me to the wall and coerced me to speak up. It is a trend within the external examination authorities, the West African Examination Council, WAEC, as it pertains to mathematics, which I happen to teach.

So much lies have often been told of how kids of these days hate to read their books. Parents often hide behind these and claim that during their own time, they were serious students. This lie will serve as a pedestal for boastful lies from some parents. I finished secondary school in the mid-eighties. Even then, the level of hard-work among students wasn’t anywhere different from what it is now. The proportion of serious students today is the same as it was back then. It could even be better now because we now have competitions in private schools that have turned up brighter students than in the past. It is the reason why everyone wants to educate his child in a private school.

 I was in the sciences. Mathematics is crucial to the understanding of the sciences. As I mentioned in a preceding paragraph, only a few students were serious during our time. Out of about thirty students of my class back in the mid-eighties, there were only six that passed mathematics with credits or higher grades. That makes it 20% of the students. Those students were hard-working not because their parents pushed them to be hard-working, but because they had a certain degree of maturity that agitated and kept their conscience awake. 

On any day, if you pick any number of students, the same percentage will have the conscience to do what is right at that age without someone compelling them to do so. A certain percentage tidied up their lives by re-writing WAEC some years later, with added maturity.

If you ask yourself sincerely, how many persons studied hard during your set, you are going to come up with a “not many” answer. 

So, why is it that, these days, even when students are well-taught, a whole set would fail the external mathematics examination?

 What Ii will be writing in the following paragraphs is my opinion.  It is left for readers to agree with me or not. The answers I get will either vindicate or incriminate me. Recently, some science competitions have emerged to bring excellent students who rewarded with scholarships. Notable among these are the Olympiad, Cowbell and Insterswitch competitions. What has become clear is that WAEC is getting influenced by these competitions that are supposed to bring out geniuses. A thousand would write the examination, but only a few will come out with pass marks. The trend is creating frustration among hard-working students, their teachers and hurting the nation.

 One of the secrets of why I was successful in secondary school was the revision of past question papers from WAEC. I looked at the question papers to see what we had covered that I could answer, but also what we have covered that I couldn’t answer. I made revisions of what I had learned that I couldn’t answer. I went on to study topics that we hadn’t covered, notable among them were Longitude and Latitude, which I taught myself successfully and now teach my students. Back then, when you pick a question paper, even as a student, you could see that you could pass the examination. I later went to a university and studied in the natural sciences, bagging a first degree as far back as 1992. With all the experience that followed in the more the three decades since my secondary school, I get scared when I pick up a Mathematics question paper to revise with my students today. That is how I learned that something is wrong with the pattern of WAEC mathematics tests these days.

 My students, currently writing the WAEC examination in August due to the Corona Virus pandemic, have already written mathematics on 17th August. After the paper, my best students came out looking disappointed. They are students that I had expected to do me proud. Some of them know Mathematics more than I knew it when I was in secondary school. One of these students had topped Plateau State in a competition that is organized by the Presidency to award a federal scholarship. I became heartbroken, not knowing what else to do, going by the level of hard work we had put in and the number of bright students we were lucky to have in the set. The outcome: I am losing interest in the profession, and the students are becoming frustrated.

It is why I am writing this, to call the attention of WAEC to a pattern of questions in recent years that requires students to struggle to find “expo” because they feel that they cannot pass mathematics examinations on their own. 

Only parents who loved and understood mathematics during their time can understand my position. To corroborate my claim, you have to pick questions of the last decade, for instance, to compare with what you had written during your time if you had written any time before 2000.

We must avoid this national disaster.

Enable GingerCannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection
or reload the browserDisable in this text fieldEditEdit in GingerEdit in Ginger×

Finangwai Dreams Big for Plateau State

Dr Hosea Finangwai. Source Dr Finangwai

There is that saying that “the things that people desperately seek are always with them.” If you ever had the chance to visit a vegetable market in Plateau State, you get a profound feeling that the solution to Plateau’s economic woes is hidden in vegetables grown in the state. Sadly, the little things that authorities ought to do to help this come to fruition often fail to materialize. Besides, prosperity is not just about the economy, schools and roads. Prosperity is also about physical beauty and decency of our public places; people judge you by the way you appear. Thus, the markets need to be organized to look decent.  

In the past, particularly in colonial times, there were successful efforts at market organizations. In Bukuru, Jos South, for instance, the market was organized to have units for every basic trade. There were huge warehouses for grain storage, a decently built slaughter and units for the sale of the slaughtered animals, tailoring, vegetable... There was also the famous abattoir around Dogon Karfe. Since then, nothing of that nature has been built, despite population growth even while existing ones are in a state of rot. 

The chaos in the vegetable market and abattoir were the reason why the News Tower visited the Honourable Commissioner of Agriculture in Plateau State, Dr Hosea Finangwai. But the conversation got bigger than we had hoped. The News Tower was trying to bring the attention of the commissioner to the idea of organizing emerging markets like that of Building Materials for decency, modernity and easy navigation. So, we asked the commissioner what plans he has for this year, 2020. 

Dr Finangwai brought to our attention the fact that a reasonable growth plan in the short term isn’t feasible. It is the reason why his emphasis is on compiling the data of farmers and their activities and drawing a policy program upon which growth in the agricultural portfolio would be hinged. When that is done, the government will then unleash its development program fully.

Concerning the creation of a policy document, the commissioner said he intends to hold a summit of those that matter in the sector this year. Eventually, the ministry will ensure the cooperation of the Plateau Agricultural Development Program, PADP, The College of Agriculture Garkawa, the Agricultural Services and Training Centre (with offices across the state), and the Home Economic School in Riyom. These bodies are either agricultural training providers or service providers or both. And, since the administration wants to move agriculture in the state from subsistence to wealth creation, these bodies will be used to train the farmers who will then be supported to get loans from the Nigerian Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL). 

Taking agriculture in Plateau State to a higher pedestal must involve extraordinary measures. Hence, the Ministry has identified varieties of certified seeds that have already been given to farmers. In the potato value chain, there is the idea of diffuse light stores to preserve the perishables until a favourable market day, processing units, life kiosks, tissue culture laboratories to clean our varieties to produce brands that are highly viable and resistant to diseases, thereby getting rid of challenges like potato blight. The commissioner also talked about the Gramin Agricultural Markets program to help farmers sale their goods locally as is done in India. More than seven hundred rural roads and about one hundred and fifty-six tarred roads will be constructed to enhance connections between the farms and the markets. 

The efforts will also involve the promotion of commodity associations. In this regard, the government in connection with the commodity associations has started working to help in the preservation of agricultural produce in cold rooms, which ASTC has in three locations in Plateau State that includes Vom, Kuru-Jenta and Tenti Green. The commodity associations have been mandated to find lands to be used as commodity markets, where farmers can deposit their goods in the cold houses, especially when markets aren’t favourable. It will help to discourage large gatherings, especially when social distancing becomes imperative. 

Dr Finangwai said he did lead a delegation to visit the honourable Minister of Agriculture, Mallam Sabo Nanono. The aim was to seek support in helping the Plateau State Government to set up cold houses. Still, with preservation, the commissioner said his ministry has proposed to the governor to encourage members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTWh) to see the possibility of integrating cold vans into their fleet for the transportation of the perishable agricultural product to distant locations. His ministry is awaiting the response of the governor.

About the abattoir, the commissioner agrees the conditions are squalid; there is a paucity of water so that butchers have to use water niggardly. But there is also the reality of butchers slaughtering sick animals and selling them to people. Hence, the Plateau State Ministry of Agriculture is working with the Chairman and Secretary of the Butchers union to fix the ugly situation. But, the ministry is also looking at the prospect of handing the abattoir over to a private body, to avoid the I-do-not-give-a-damn behavior that often runs public agencies down. 

Regarding Kara Market in Bukuru, the administration has entered into an MOU with Harati. All this is aimed at making Kara market an international cattle market. Kara market was “built” by the administration of late Solomon Lar, during the second republic between 1979 and 1985, but has never really taken off. If it works well, according to the commissioner, the program will be replicated in the central and southern zones of Plateau State.