USA Africa Dialogue Series - Change is supposed to have come, so, what the hell is going on?

Chidi  Anthony Opara,

So, what the hell is going on?

As Donald Trump would say, " What the hell is going on? " and there are those who don't like him for asking such a question or proposing equally tough solutions.

Re- "These same foreign interests know this for a fact. It may be these same forces -- no to talk of Lebanese generator importers -- sponsoring attacks on our power installations, giving minister Fashola the nightmare of his life." (Dr. Obadiah Mailafia)

Nigeria : attacks on power stations

So what is the government doing about these acts of sabotage?

"Specifically, the nightmares which Nigerians experienced in the last two months are connected with the instability of power supply which plumbed to a dismal 1,580 megawatts, temporarily moved up to roughly 4000MW at the beginning of this week, but returned to 3000MW on Wednesday as a result of, it is alleged, the tripping of the transmission line of Egbin power station. The whiplash effect of the energy drop was made worse by a sweltering heat around the country, and the protracted fuel crisis which meant that, it was difficult to obtain fuel to power the ubiquitous generators with their polluting effects. Government officials responded to the drop in power generation by updating the usual and over recycled alibis such as shortage of gas, pipeline vandalism, and shortage in water supply, among others. The excuses amounted to cold comfort at a time when arbitrary hikes in electricity tariffs are been clamped down on hapless consumers. It is becoming increasingly clear that government will have to do more than merely apologise for governance failures, or feed Nigerians with the same old excuses with which they have lived for so long. ( Rising misery in the land)

And how is the government combating the spread of Fulani herdsman terrorism , in search of greener pastures ( apart from  the improbable "statement by the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Audu Ogbeh, about Nigeria importing grass like Saudi Arabia from the United States for cattle grazing"?

"Noticeable too, is the failure to resolve long standing security problems, such as the constant massacre of innocent citizens by Fulani herdsmen sensationally illustrated by the mass killing of the Agatu people in Benue State recently. To be sure, these tragic events described by Dr. Obadiah Mailafia as "a silent genocidal war" have been on for several years, but they have grown in intensity in recent times with climate change, and the foraging southward for pasture by Fulani herdsmen. Only last week, communities in Ijebu-Igbo and its neighbourhood raised an alert regarding the increasingly aggressive activities of Fulani herdsman. Similar distress calls have been heard from the Okun people of Kogi State where murderous conflicts have occurred between a swelling Fulani population and local farmers. Regrettably, very little discerning response has come from government on this emergent security challenge, except for the mysterious and difficult to understand statement by the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Audu Ogbeh, about Nigeria importing grass like Saudi Arabia from the United States for cattle grazing. (Rising misery in the land

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.