The Nation Newspaper

Category: Lawal Ogienagbon

  • Farotimi: Let justice be served

    Farotimi: Let justice be served

    Defamation is not a light matter. It is a serious case which borders on the honour and integrity of the defamed. Nobody wants his reputation destroyed. Our names and reputations are the only things we have going for us. Though inanimate, they breath life when we are not there and speak for us through a third party.

    Behind us, a person will ask and respond all by himself: ‘do you know so and so (mentioning the person’s name): he is a good man’. We all want to be described as such not only in our presence but also when we are not there. This is why we all cherish a good name, which the scripture says, is better than gold and silver.

    A good name matters. It is a legacy that is handed down from generation to generation. No father wants to hand down a soiled name to his children. No matter how bad a father is, he still struggles to look good before his children. He makes them to believe that he is a good man, even when he is not because he does not want them to carry the baggage of his infamous name.

    But then names and reputations can be destroyed by people who do not mean well. They can wake up one morning and cook up stories about someone all in an effort to destroy that person. They will claim free speech in so doing. Free speech is not absolute; it comes with a responsibility. As an advocate of free speech, I know that you cannot write or say something that is untrue about the other person without having your facts. Facts are sacred, comment’s free, according to C.P. Scott, the legendary editor of Manchester Guardian.

    Can you call a man a thief, a fraud, a corrupter of others and a bribe taker when you do not have the facts? The answer is no. The position of the law is also clear on matters like these: ‘he who alleges must prove’. It is not enough to allege, the deponent must go a step further when called upon to do so, to provide proof. Gone are the days when affidavits were taking at their face value. The averments in the affidavits must be proven when you get to court.

    So, also are the allegations made in a book. The author must be ready to prove them when those he mentioned take him up on the allegations against them. A book or any publication for that matter is not an avenue to malign or damage people’s character. A book is meant to entertain, educate and inform. It is not for character assassination. When it is seen as a tool for character assassination, it is the duty of the author to allay the fear of all, especially the aggrieved, that it is not.

    If the author cannot do that, he should be ready to pay the price for his action. There is a thin line between free speech and defamation. Writers have to be cautious of walking this line whenever they are writing. An experience writer knows how to navigate the waters, but an amateur gets easily carried away by what he wants to put down that he is unmindful of the consequences. But a lawyer, even if he is not a writer in that sense, should know better.

    A lawyer, Dele Farotimi’s book: “Nigeria and its criminal justice system” has become a ‘best seller’, according to reports since his travails began following his arrest in Lagos and transfer to Ekiti on December 3. This was a book that publishers did not touch even with a 10-foot pole when he wanted to get it published initially. He had to publish it on his own. Why are the publishers that ran away from the book then today trying to outdo themselves in associating with it?

    It is because of the controversy that it has generated following the author’s arrest and arraignment in an Ekiti magistrate’s court for criminal defamation. A senior advocate of Nigeria and educationist, Aare Afe Babalola, is alleging that Farotimi maligned him in the book. He quoted portions of the book where his character was assassinated. Those portions are not replicated here so that we are not caught in the libel web too. The rule is that you do not repeat a libellous publication under the guise of reporting it. If you do, you also become liable.

    Much has been said in the public domain about the Babalola and Farotimi case. Like Babalola, Farotimi is also well known. Apart from being lawyers, they had a common candidate in Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential election. So, in a manner of speaking, they shared something together until Farotimi’s book tore them apart. Farotimi’s allegations, which Babalola denies in their entirety, are now well known to the public, including the publishers that are feasting on the row to make a killing.

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    There are divergent reactions to the case, beginning with what some called Farotimi’s forceful arrest in Lagos before he was taken to Ekiti. Babalola is said to be instrumental in Farotimi’s plight. Babalola says he is fighting to protect the name and integrity that he has built over the years. Every reasonable person will fight such a battle too. About two months ago, activist lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) found himself fighting this same battle when VeryDarkMan (VDM) accused him and his son Folarin over the Bobrisky jail sojourn saga.

    Falana said then that he would not go for criminal defamation because of the work he is doing to decriminalise free speech in West Africa, but he settled for a civil action against VDM. The matter is still in court. Babalola has not only opted for a criminal action, but he is also pursuing a civil case against Farotimi. It is a matter of choice for the aggrieved party. Criminal defamation is no longer an offence in Lagos, but it still is in Ekiti where Farotimi is being tried.

    Farotimi has made his allegations in his book, he now has the chance to prove them in open court so that the whole world will know if they are true. Farotimi should therefore not miss the opportunity that this case has presented him to prove his allegations not only against Babalola but also against all those he mentioned in his now ‘best selling’ book. Babalola is not demanding too much by asking Farotimi to prove his allegations in court.

    I agree that the circumstances of Farotimi’s arrest in Lagos might not have been tidy, but like any other Nigerian treated in that manner, he has his remedy in law. He knows what to do about that. However, this has nothing to do with the case of criminal defamation against him. Farotimi cannot hide under the manner of his arrest to evade providing proof of his allegations against individuals and organisations mentioned in his book.

    We have made talk too cheap for too long in this country. It is time those who engaged in such talks were made to back their claims with facts and figures. This is the kind of society that people like Farotimi say they want. Let him avail himself of the opportunity of his trial to walk the talk. To do otherwise will not make him different from those he has been criticising for ‘running and ruining’ the country.

    Since the Bible says a good name is better than gold and silver, what should a man do if his good name is tarnished? Keep quiet and take it in his strides? Your answer is as good as mine.

  • Tale of 753 duplexes and ‘ghost owner’

    Tale of 753 duplexes and ‘ghost owner’

    Things cannot get foggier than this. The people asked for the identity of the owner or owners of the sprawling 753 duplexes in the Lokogoma area of Abuja recovered by the anti-graft agency only to be hit by a long and windy explanation. I am sorry to say that the people have yet to get the much-sought clarification from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).  Its explanation left much to be desired.

    It beats my imagination the sort of theory that the EFCC propounded over the ownership of the eye-popping estate. When it celebrated what it called the single-largest recovery ever in its 21-year history on Monday, it did so with relish. It hailed itself for doing what had never been done before. It should also have berated itself for not naming the owner of the property in its euphoria. Its explanation the next day, I beg to say, begs the issue. Who is the owner of the estate? Why is it difficult for EFCC to tell Nigerians who he is?

    It evaded these questions in a legal mumbo-jumbo under which it attempted to explain why it failed to discharge the simple task of telling the public what they have the right to know. EFCC is a public institution funded with tax payers’ money. Its loyalty is to the public and not to any tiny group of powerful people whose activities have been detrimental to the well-being of the country. It is this same group that it is trying to shield. It is a big surprise that EFCC will celebrate such a landmark recovery without considering it important to name and shame the owner of the property.

    I do not understand the game that EFCC is playing. Its statement and the affidavit in support of the motion it filed in court on November 25 are at variance. In the statement, it claimed that the owners of the property are not known, but in the affidavit, it linked former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele to the estate. In law, an action in rem such as the one under which it brought the forfeiture application does not usually contain names of an individual or organisation since it is assumed that the parties are unknown. This is why it is a legal proceeding against a thing and not a person, as in the case of action in personam.

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    The purpose of an action in rem is defeated where the defendant/s is/are known. This is exactly what happened in this instant case in which EFCC wants the world to applaud it for making the single-largest recovery in its history. It would have been something to applaud if it had gone the whole hog and named the property owner, without recourse to any legal machination to becloud the issue. Its affidavit says it all, but its statement is an art in being economical with the truth. Why hold back in the statement after making full disclosure in the court papers? What is EFCC afraid of? There are no other deductions to be made from the affidavit than to link the 753 duplexes to Emefiele and his gang.

     I do not believe though that the agency is involved in a cover up. It could be that it is only being careful. I however hold strongly that, that care should have been exhibited in the affidavit and not in the statement. To me, as a layman, and taking the affidavit at its face-value, everything points at Emefiele as having a link to those duplexes.  The affidavit said inter-alia: “the commission, while investigating the alleged monumental fraud carried out by the immediate past CBN governor and his cronies, traced and discovered several properties reasonably suspected to have been acquired and or developed with proceeds of unlawful activities.

     “The property highlighted in Schedule A to this application (Plot 109 Cadastral Zone C09, Lokogoma District, Abuja, measuring 150,468.86sqm), the said duplexes (italics mine), is one of the said properties recovered…” What is there more to say about the ownership of the property? The facts speak for themselves (ipso facto). If these averments have not spoken for themselves about the ownership of those duplexes, then I do not know what will. How can an individual own 753 duplexes in a land where many sleep under the bridge? It is insane.

  • Much ado about tax reforms

    Much ado about tax reforms

    The Tax Reform Bills continue to generate heat because of the position of some that they are meant to pauperise them and their people. I do not wish to reduce the debate to ‘us against them’ or ‘one region versus the other’, which obviously is the intent of many opposed to the bills. They want to pitch one section of the country against the other over an issue which can be ironed out without rancour or calling themselves out. There are gains in the bills. It is just for those opposed to them to cool down and see the positive sides. The bills may not be perfect, but they are a good place to start from to revitalise and rejuvenate the tax system.

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    The truth is the payment of tax is lopsided against the poor. Many of the rich evade tax. You only see them rushing to pay, often in arrears, when the need arises. This must stop. The poor cannot continue to carry the rich. It is the other way round in developed economies. Also, there is no need for the row over value added tax (VAT), whether it is shared on the basis of consumption or production. What is important is that no part of the country will go empty handed. More details on this topic in future.

  • Banks and their funny game

    Banks and their funny game

    What have I not seen in the hands of Guaranty Trust Bank, now known as GTCO in the past few days? I reported last week that the bank credited my account with N20000 out of the N30000 failed transaction for which I was debited on November 4. I did not write about another N100000 failed transaction which I had earlier reported to Sterling Bank as I was awaiting their finding.  Upon investigation, GTCO was again blamed for the problem.

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     Armed with a document from Sterling, I took up the issue with GTCO on November 28. The bank denied any wrongdoing, only for it to credit my account on the night of the same day to the tune of that amount. Meanwhile, it is saying nothing about my N10000 balance. I am writing this on December 4, a whole 31 days after the failed N30000 transaction. I am tired of writing about this week in, week out, but if it is what it takes to get my money bank, why not?

  • The more, the merrier

    The more, the merrier

    It is a thing of joy that that the old Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) has started working again. It had been moribund for five years. Along the way, every plan to resuscitate it failed not because of a lack of will, but sabotage by those who never wanted anything good for the country.

    The saboteurs wanted the country to remain a perpetual importer of fuel, despite having four refineries then that could refine the crude that was and is still produced locally. With the coming of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery (DPR), the country now has five refining companies. Out of this lot, none was working until Dangote came on stream a few months ago.

    With PHRC joining DPR, the country now has two functioning refineries with enough capacities to give us fuel for domestic use and ease the pain of recurring product shortage which has caused Nigerians a lot of stress. The gain is now here. There is no gain without pain, so goes the saying. The PHRC has returned at a good time. Its return might have been timed to coincide with the working of DPR for good measure.

    There is a positive side to two refineries working simultaneously. The impact will be felt nationwide. Though the PHRC is for now working at 70 percent of its installed capacity, which it plans to raise to 90 in no distant time, in combination with Dangote, which is also yet to start working at full capacity, both refineries are capable of producing enough fuel for domestic use, with some certainly left for export.

    The return of PHRC is a blessing because of the timing of its return which caught saboteurs unawares. Unlike in the past when its return date was announced ahead of time, its managers probably changed tactics so as to beat the saboteurs in their game. The nation just woke up on Tuesday to the cheery news of the refinery’s return and the loading of products at the plant. It was ingenious of the men behind the refinery’s return. It is not everything that you plan to do that you talk about ahead of time.

    The Yoruba put it succinctly: it is not every apparel that you dry outside. There are certain things that you keep to yourself because we do not know which lizard has abdominal pains, even though they all lie on their stomachs. The managers have learnt their lessons after years of announcing the planned return of the refinery and not meeting the scheduled date. This is all over now. PHRC has bounced back and there is jubilation in the land. Beyond the euphoria, there is still much work to be done.

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    The refinery must remain working and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) must do everything to ensure that it does not become moribund again, to the extent of remaining idle for another five years. A lot of money and resources were pumped into reviving the refinery. These should not go to waste again because of mismanagement of the plant. The return of PHRC should be the beginning of a more effective and efficient supply of products across the country. Nigerians have suffered for too long for products which are in their backyards, yet are not easily accessible.

    The least NNPCL can do now is to ensure that the people get these products – petrol, diesel and kerosene – especially kerosene which is poor specific, as they say, at minimal price after deducting the cost of production and margin for profit. Dangote has already reduced its ex-depot price, that is the cost of selling to marketers to N970 per litre from N990. The refinery set for competition. This is why it is good to have many players in any business. The more they are, the better and merrier in terms of gains for the businesses and the end users.

    As President Bola Tinubu said while congratulating NNPCL on the return of PHRC, the next stop is to get Kaduna and Warri refineries back on stream too. It is pathetic to have four refineries and all will be down at the same time. The suffering for fuel was self-inflicted. It is high time the government removed this affliction once-and-for-all by getting the other refineries to work again. If they resume work, it will ease the people’s long time suffering. Their pain will be replaced with gain, enormous gain that will make them forget what they went through in the past for fuel.

  • Egberun Samu…

    Egberun Samu…

    Offenders try to run away from the consequences of their actions. In so doing, they forget that they can only run, but cannot hide. In my growing up days, elders usually cautioned us against the folly of such an action. “You cannot run away from your sin”, they said. Over the years, I have come to realise the truth in their advice. How long can any person run from his sin? How long? Former Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello is in a better position to answer this question.

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    After playing hide-and-seek with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), he has finally given himself up to answer questions on his time in office. Bello reported to the EFCC Headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, just as he did sometime ago in September. His latest action might have been informed by the Supreme Court’s decision that the EFCC is constitutionally established to try corrupt cases across board. With him now in EFCC’s net, it is left for the agency to come up with its case against him.

    The lesson in this episode is that no matter how long an offender’s legs are, they cannot be longer than the arms of the law. Egberun Samu, ko le sa mo Olorun l’owo, so goes the saying. Thus, Egberun Yahaya, ko le sa mo EFCC lowo. Meaning a thousand Yahaya cannot run away from EFCC.

  • What a ‘reversal’!

    What a ‘reversal’!

    On Tuesday, I got an alert from GTCO, crediting my account with N20,000. The bank claimed that the transaction was in respect of the N30,000 which I transferred from my Sterling Bank to GTCO account for which I was never credited on November 4. How can a N30,000 transfer be reduced to N20,000 when I never withdrew from the money? Anyway, how can I withdraw from funds that I was never credited with in the first place?

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    I do not know the parameters that GTCO used in deciding to credit me with N20,000 after debiting me for a failed N30,000 transaction. Part of the alert reads: RE-REV/926134431808926134104434062805*********0012E-2024-11-13

    Amount: NGN 20000

    Value Date: 2024-11-26

    Time of Transaction: 6:27:14PM.

    GTCO must be joking if it thinks I will accept N20000 for its failure to credit me with the actual amount of N30000 that I transferred to my account over three weeks ago. The bank should just credit my account with the right amount and apologise for wasting my time by its inefficiency. So much for a bank that parades itself as ‘Guaranty Trust’. What a misnomer!

  • Sanctimonious OBJ

    Sanctimonious OBJ

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is at it again, doing what only him knows how to do best. Running down others, and hailing himself as the best thing that ever happened to mankind. Obasanjo, aka Baba or OBJ, believes solely in Obasanjo. To him, he is the best leader to have ever come out of Nigeria, nay Africa. It is good to believe in oneself, but it should not be at the expense of rubbishing others.

    Whether in open letters or public lectures just as the one he recently delivered in Yale, United States of America, Obasanjo speaks well of himself as a leader and ill of others that either came before or after him. He is never short of what to say about them. Was Obasanjo really a fantastic leader as head of state (1976-1979) and president (1999-2007)? Time will tell.

    Come to think of it. What legacies did he bequeath to the nation following his exit from office in 2007, after his eight year tenure? He virtually left the nation in chaos following his botched attempt to elongate his tenure to enable him serve a third term, contrary to the provisions of the Constitution. Although, he vehemently denied nursing a third term ambition, his protracted battle with his deputy, Atiku Abubakar, because of the latter’s bid to succeed him indicated the extent he was ready to go to remain in office.

    The refusal of the National Assembly to play ball nipped his plan in the bud. The failure of the project led to the making of his famous statement that if he actually wanted a third term, all he needed to do was to ask God, who had never refused him anything. Really? So, he is the only one who knows God like that out of the millions of people that populate the country. The thing is Obasanjo is full of himself and believes that he is better than any other person. Leadership is not cut that way.

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    Leadership is not about self, but the collective. It is the ability to rally others to get things done. A tree does not make a forest, it can only make a difference which others can key into to make things work for the betterment of the society. Obasanjo is a lucky person. From his military days as head of state to when he became president on the nation’s return to democracy in 1999, fate has always smiled on him. Not many men have such a destiny. Rather than appreciate the place of the providence in his life, he is carrying on as if it is of his own making that things have turned out the way they did for him.

    I am not in anyway attacking the messenger and leaving the message, as some may want to say. No. The fact is one cannot look at the Obasanjo message which he delivered at Yale without looking at his person, the messenger. As the Yoruba would say, you first look at the apparel of the person who wishes to give you an attire. What was Obasanjo’s track record in office whether as military or civilian leader to warrant his trenchant criticisms of other leaders, especially his successors since he left office in 2007?

    He did not even spare Umoru Yar’Adua who he singlehandedly installed in a flawed presidential election in 2007. Today, this same Obasanjo is pontificating on credible, free, fair and transparent elections conducted by a truly independent electoral umpire. If he knew this, why then did he not lead by example by laying the foundation for such elections and the composition of such an electoral body? Obasanjo appointed two chairmen for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during his tenure, without following the steps he is today outlining for the appointment of those electoral umpires.

    The Obasanjo we all know would snub anybody that comes to him to tell him to follow the due process that he is now advocating for the appointment of INEC chairman. He would have told those people: ‘due process my foot’. There is no doubt that the appointment of INEC chiefs could be improved upon for the sake of our elections. But at what stage did Obasanjo know this? Is he now wiser after the fact of what he did while in office? If he had followed the steps he is outlining today in appointing Chief Abel Guobadia and Prof Maurice Iwu as INEC chiefs in 2000 and 2005, respectively, perhaps, people would have listened to him.

    They would have commended him for practicing what he is preaching. His do what I say and not what I do approach is not helpful. By the provisions of the Constitution, a sitting President is entrusted with the responsibility of appointing the INEC chairman after briefing the Council of State (CoS), which is just an advisory organ on his intentions. Obasanjo cannot in his own time exercise this constitutional power and now seek to stop his successors from taking the same path in their own time.

    His economic policies too were full of holes despite the killing the nation made from oil during his tenure. Of course the high oil price then had a concomitant effect on the economy, with our robust foreign reserves and impressive gross domestic products. But how well did he invest the oil earnings? If he and his economic team had initiated critical investments, the nation will not be where it is today. That he negotiated a debt forgiveness of $15 billion for the country from the London and Paris Club is not an investment. The debt relief came at a cost which the nation is still battling it with today.

    The nation is neck-deep in debts again because of the bad planning and negotiations that went into that 2005 debt relief. Obasanjo is not a messenger of truth. Whenever he speaks, he embellishes it in order to create the impression that he has the nation’s love at heart. His fighting the civil war to keep Nigeria one, which he always refers to, does not make him a better Nigerian than any other Nigerian. He is not the only one that fought the civil war. He was just lucky to have collected the instrument of surrender from Biafra’s Philip Effiong.

    Obasanjo reaped where he did not sow, as the war had been won and lost before he was posted to take over from Benjamin Adekunle at the Third Marine Commando. Obasanjo has a lot of baggage. He should take it easy so that he is not called out now and again whenever he speaks. He should first remove the beam in his own eyes before he sees the log in others’. If he continues to talk like this, people will always assess him, the messenger, and not his messages, because of his biases. 

  • Buck-passing

    Buck-passing

     Banks can never be understood. They beg you to bring your money and at the same time refuse to release the money when the arises. I talk from experience. It is not the first nor the second or even the third. But this experience leaves a sour taste in the mouth. On November 4, I transferred N30,000 from my Sterling Bank to GTbank account. I was immediately credited only for the transaction to be reversed almost at the same time. Till today, the money has not hit my account despite the bank’s claim that I was credited.

    I lodged a complaint at Sterling on November 11 and followed up on November 18, only to be told that GTbank had sent a mail to Sterling that I have been credited. I obtained my statement of account from GTbank and saw on it that the transaction was reversed. But the mail sent to Sterling by

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    safurat.ojikutu@GTB claimed that I have been credited. It bore the log code: SBP00117222831. The mail and account statement vary. I believe the statement more than the mail.

    Why can GTbank not put its house in order? Why will the account statement and the email sent by its staff member be saying different things? What is up? With Sterling insisting that the money is not with them, it was hell on Monday morning as I shuttled between both banks to know the true position of things. For now, the money is hanging somewhere and it is probably with GTbank. When will it look into its books and rectify the problem? I will continue to call both banks out until the issue is addressed.

  • Abiku Grid and the greedy DisCos

    Abiku Grid and the greedy DisCos

    Power transmission and distribution remain at its lowest ebb ever in the history of the nation. Since the classification of customers into bands under which they are billed according to the hours of supply they enjoy daily, electricity distribution has not been the same again. Whatever band you may be, supply is at the discretion of the distributors who have prioritised Band A customers.

    Generation, we have been told, has been fantastic. The problem is that of  transmission and distribution. The government-owned Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) which acts as offtaker to the generation companies (GenCos) has the capacity to transmit but the distribution companies (DisCos) lack the capacity to distribute the entire stock.

    These DisCos, which dot the six geo-political regions servicing the states in those places, more often than not decline to take all the transmitted power for distribution, citing various reasons. They claim that they are being owed by many customers and as such do not have the financial muscle to pay for the supply. At times, they ask for credit facility, which they do not extend to customers who they treat with levity. Some people have, however, argued that the issue has to do more with infrastructure than finance.

    They may have a point there. Since the privatisation of the power sector by the Jonathan administration in November 2013, there has been no new major investment in the public utility’s infrastructure by the successor-distribution companies which have today become law unto themselves. They are more interested in reaping without sowing in what they acquired.

    What value have they added to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), as it was then known, which they acquired under different guises and forms? They quickly mopped up the assets, without doing anything about the decaying infrastructure. The nation is where it is today in its power generation, transmission and distribution drive because the assets of PHCN fell into the wrong hands. The privatisation was not properly done and the nation is paying for it today.

    The incessant collapse of the National Grid has shown that we are still a long way from achieving our dreams of regular power supply despite the introduction and classification of consumers under bands, with the assurance that those on the elite Band A will enjoy an uninterrupted 22-hour supply per day, at a heavy price.

    Those who can afford it have been paying, but many are complaining that there is a catch somewhere, which they cannot put a finger on. They claim that it is a scam, pointing at the fast rate they say their meter credit burns out despite switching off many appliances to control use. Is there really any need for band classification where there is an efficient and effective power system? The answer is no.

    By resorting to band classification, many Nigerians have been deliberately shut out of the power supply chain because they are men of straw. It is only men of means who now enjoy power yala yolo, as some will say, at any given time of the day. Even when the grid collapses, their supply is not affected. Where does that come from? From a grid that is hidden somewhere unknown to the majority of the people.

    The frequent incidence of grid collapse has worsened the problem. For the 11th time this year, it happened again last Thursday. It was the second time in 48 hours that we were witnessing such a national embarrassment which followed that of Tuesday. What a way to celebrate the 11th month with the grid collapsing for the 11th time last Thursday. Jokes apart, why this incessant collapse? Is there no way out of it? How many megawatts are we producing that this vast network of transmission lines linking power stations to end-users nationwide cannot cope?

    In September, we were celebrating the generation of 5,313 megawatts (MW) of electricity in a country of 232.6 million people. Whereas South Africa and Ghana, with a population of 64.2 million and 34.4 million, generate 58,095MW and 2,837MW. The truth is our Abiku National Grid is no longer fit for purpose. It outlived its usefulness long ago when it started packing up at the slightest hint of trouble, be it of infrastructure or the DisCos’ inability to take all the transmitted power.

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    Things cannot continue like this. Otherwise every other thing will collapse as a result of the failure to fix the national grid. It is time to look for an alternative before the grid turns us into a grieving nation. We have been at its mercy for too long. To rub insult upon injury, the DisCos are threatening fire and brimstone over prepaid meters that they claim would become outdated on November 24.

    They have rebuffed all entreaties by the Nigerian Electricity and Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to replace the meters at no cost to consumers. They are insisting on customers paying for a replacement. How do you pay for a replaced item? There is nowhere in the world that replaced items are paid for by consumers when such exigencies arise. It is for the service provider to replace an item where the need to do so is not of the consumer’s making.

    Ikeja Electric (IE) has been adamant over the matter. Where its counterpart, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), has shown some  understanding through the upgrading of the meters to ensure their continued use, IE is insisting on the replacement of the meters at a cost to the consumer or nothing. This is not business; it is sheer wickedness and exploitation of its poor and suffering customers. It wants to play hard.

    But it should be mindful of the consequences of such action. They are usually not good for business, no matter how indispensable the service provider may think it is. Like EKEDC, IE will lose nothing by allowing its customers to upgrade their meters with ease. It should remember the saying: “customer is king”.