by Cheta Nwanze
Nothing could be more apt this morning than having a generator powered economy being the largest in Africa.
First off, I know that I owe you, and quite a few others, a massive apology for rather rudely yanking this service off of the airwaves since last August. The reasons for that disappearing act have had their outlook downgraded by various ratings agencies, so this morning tonic has now been re-based.
I’m not the only one who is apologising to Nigerians this morning. Over the weekend, assorted government suits took to the airwaves in front of various men-o-the-press, and rendered a line or two from Byran Adams’s 1993 hit single.
The chap in charge at interior took the first line of the song, while in the background, the FRSC is still auditioning, and will very likely have failed to take the stage, were it not for human rights lawyer, Femi Falana.
Oh, and lest I forget, Arik Air had better apply for the apology talent hunt after their latest round of fun and games did Banky W and about 200 other souls strong thing.
In any event, the real apology that I want to hear ought to come from NEPA. Over the weekend, I was forced to empty Mrs. Chxta’s freezer of its contents because my area has, in the last one week, had power for a combined total of just over an hour. 1 hour out of a possible 168! That statistic, in any examination on God’s-green-earth, is a fail.
Thus it was that yesterday afternoon, I sat with the generator-powered fan rotating slowly, watching our number one bean counter tell us that our economy is now the largest on the Dark Continent. Nothing could be more apt this morning than having a generator powered economy being the largest in Africa. But let’s put a positive spin to this: if we have managed to achieve this much without power, imagine what we can do, if the lights and fans actually worked?
Direct appeal to our big ichafo, in the language of your (and my) forefathers: biko, nye anyi oku.
Bits and bobs
- Having already had 6 daughters Mrs Soronnadi, aged 50, knew she was yet to have a child.
N600,000 got her a baby boy from Mrs Obioha. - I’m usually one to look at reports from unnamed sources askance, but given the gravity of the allegations made by this single source, it does deserve a mention.
- There’s a deadly game of tit-for-tat going on in the North. All ye who have ears, please hear.
- Eleven years ago next month, I like millions of my fellow countrymen took part in an exercise for an identification card. Eleven years later, I’m yet to see my card. So what hope that I can board a flight with one?
- For those of you who are into that kind of thing (hat-tip Henry Okelue), the reaction from South Africa to the fat new GDP figures have been rather priceless.
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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.
