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IT IS difficult to determine exactly who discovered electricity and when he precisely did so. Although the popular belief is that Benjamin Franklin is the father of electricity, but the electrical phenomena had been studied since antiquity and much progress in theoretical understanding remained slow until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Even then, practical applications for electricity were few, and it would not be until the late nineteenth century that engineers were able to put it to domestic and industrial use. Since then, many nations have made huge progress in providing stable power supply for their various societies. The situation has also been helped by the rapid expansion in electrical technology which has transformed the ways things are done in the industry and society.

Electricity’s extraordinary versatility means it can be put to an almost limitless set of applications, including transport, education, heating, lighting, communications, and computation, among others. Electrical power is now the backbone of the modern industrial society.This explains why many countries invest a huge part of their resources in electricity to oil their economy. In Africa, only South Africa can be said to have crossed the Rubicon. With a population less than that of Nigeria, South Africa generates more than 40,000 megawatts of electricity to power its economy and maintain a stable supply of power.

Unfortunately, Nigeria is still battling hard to generate about 4,000 megawatts to serve its population of more than 160 million. To get out of the quagmire, it was reasoned that only the privatisation of the power sector was the best available alternative. This explains why Nigerians had high hopes that the privatisation of the power sector which was concluded in November 1, 2013, would improve the supply of electricity to the whole country. But three months on, the reverse appears to have been the case. The nation has been virtually thrown into darkness because of epileptic power supply nationwide. However, people would like to hang it on political sabotage to ensure that President Goodluck Jonathan does not rip any political benefit from having the political will to privatise the power sector which his predecessors shied away from doing.

Whatever is the truth, Nigerians are suffering, many businesses are tottering and people are now wondering if the privatisation was not a mistake after all. The Realnews editorial board was concerned and debated extensively why the power situation in the country had worsened since the privatisation exercise was completed and then decided to investigate what exactly had gone wrong. The detail of our findings is encapsulated in the cover story for this week entitled: A Nation in Darkness. It was ably written by Anayo Ezugwu, our hard working reporter.  The story is very interesting. Enjoy it.

Maureen Chigbo
Editor

Email: mechigbo@yahoo.com  |  mechigbo@realnewsmagazine.net

— Feb. 3, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT