In a development that could be described as poetic justice, Nigeria’s
President Goodluck Jonathan, who has continuously said his country’s electricity supply has improved, had his Easter message interrupted by power outage during a church service in Lagos on Sunday.
According to local media reports Monday, President Jonathan had barely begun delivering his Easter message, at the church in the economic capital city of Lagos, when public electricity supply went off and was not restored till the end of the message.
The President, seeking to make light of the embarrassing situation, said the power was deliberately cut in order to remind him of the urgent need to tackle the problem in the country.
“They know that I’m here; that’s why they took light, at least to remind me that I must not sleep until we stabilise power. God willing, next year they will not take light,” Jonathan said.
PANA reports that power outage is a regular occurrence in homes and businesses across Africa’s most populous nation, forcing most people to rely on electricity generators.
Nigeria, with a population of about 160 million, generates less than 5,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity, barely enough to power one major city.
In comparison, South Africa, with about one third of Nigeria’s population, generates over 40,000MW.
Successive Nigerian governments have pumped millions of dollars into the power sector, without any appreciable improvement.
