AFTER 55 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE - NIGERIANS STILL SHOUT "UP NEPA!"

Isn’t it a shameless irony and reality of the way of life of the average Nigerian that he does not have full privilege and right over the commodities and services he purchases either from private or public arms of the the nation’s economy.

It is only in Nigeria that you have to beg for the services you are paying your hard earned money to get. If you don’t beg, you either lose that service, shuffled aside or molested by the provider of the service and to add salt to the injury the very arm of government that was instituted to protect consumer rights have either gone to sleep or are dead for good, even the security arms are tools of violence in the arms of these service providers.

It is only in Nigeria that you are pressured to pay exorbitant prices for epileptic services provided by the government to the people. Such is the case of our  diabetic power sector and the forebearers of the former popularly known as NEPA aka PHCN (Please Hold Candle Nigerians). As an average Nigerian citizen, you are forced to cough out unbelievable amounts of money to pay for an electricity bill that was hardly provided to you.

The shout of the UP NEPA slogan first started shortly after the independence of Nigeria when the National Electricity Power Authority first made its historical debute of supplying electricity to Nigerians via the national grid. The electricity distribution was being provided on a state by state level as at that time. So indigents of states that are yet to receive electricity were  eager to see the amazing wonders of NEPA. So whenever a state is lightened up on the national power grid for the first time, the Nigerian citizens will scream UP NEPA!.

But unfortunately, the reverse is the case today as that slogan has successfully found its way into our daily lives because of the unrepentant of NEPA and our government to ensure that we remain in total black out all across the nation for decades. The power sector that has once been a gigantic national pride has over the years reduced itself to a shameful object in our national history. Not excluding corruption and the insensible short-sightedness of our leaders, UP NEPA is now a shameful slogan in the ways of life of Nigerians who have no option than to keep shouting UP NEPA whenever the epileptic power comes around for a little while.

The “UP NEPA” slogan was meant to be a stuff of legend in our history books, peacefully at rest for all eternity in our museums, libraries and national archives. My generation wasn’t supposed to shout the slogan long after my grandfather and father’s generation have shouted it. But shamefully, generations after me are now chew the slogan in their mouth like biscuit. I even saw a 2 year old child learning to talk screaming UP NEPA as the first words in mental vocal diary – isn’t that shameful?

Nigeria will soon mark its 56th birthday and shamefully, its citizens’ brains and minds has become the final resting place of the shameful “UP NEPA” slogan.

If this shameful act continues after our 56th birthday, our leaders should all go and cover their heads in the ashes of shame, the entire Nigerian governmental structure overhauled, the National Assembly scrapped, and brilliant minds brought on board once and for all to find an end to the evil monster called “UP NEPA” that has been living among us for ages or what do you think?

AFTER 55 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE - NIGERIANS STILL SHOUT "UP NEPA!"