Former presidential candidate Peter Obi has urged the federal government to find lasting solutions to the nation’s power crisis.
Obi made this appeal on his X handle, expressing concern over the ongoing power issues following yet another national grid collapse. This latest failure has left Nigerians facing a new round of blackouts.
Since January 2024, the grid has collapsed ten times, including three instances in October alone.
In a statement shared on Wednesday via X, Obi contrasted Nigeria’s challenges in power supply with South Africa’s recent achievement of seven consecutive months of uninterrupted electricity.
He said, “Again, yesterday the now regular news came that the National Grid had collapsed once again. Just a few days ago, on the 25th of October, South Africa that was the second-largest economy in Africa behind Nigeria until recently, with a quarter of our population, celebrated seven months of uninterrupted power supply.
“South Africa generates and distributes about 40,000 MW of electricity, while Nigeria struggles to generate and distribute just 10% of that.”
“Is there any tribe in Nigeria that enjoys uninterrupted power supply like South Africa? I am labelled a tribal bigot. When I ask if any religion enjoys special privileges in this crisis, I am called a religious bigot. But I will continue to speak the truth about our situation today,” he said.
“The fact remains that we are all suffering equally from this failure,” he said.
Obi urged Nigerians to move past “primordial sentiments” and instead focus on electing leaders who can drive the country towards development.
He said, “The fact remains that we are all suffering equally from this failure. The solution lies not in tribal or religious affiliations but in visionary leadership and a shared commitment to progress.
“We must set aside these primordial sentiments and elect leaders who are competent, capable, and have the vision to transform our nation from a consumer-driven economy to a productive one by investing our meagre resources in critical areas of development like health and education, lifting our people out of poverty, and ensuring increased electricity production and distribution.”