But whatever and however it would look like, Nigerians are now crying out to President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly to ban without further delay the importation of power generators into Nigeria. Since March 11, 2020, when a bill to prohibit the importation and use of generating sets, was proposed, many Nigerians have refused to see the benefits of the bill. All they see is the negative perspective.
The bill which was sponsored by Senator Bima Muhammadu Emagi (APC Niger South), passed its first reading on the floor of the senate chamber.
If eventually signed into law, the bill dubbed ‘Generating Set (Prohibition/Ban) Bill’, will prohibit the usage of generating sets in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The bill, titled: “A bill for an Act to prohibit/ban the importation and use of generating sets” will not only curb the menace of environmental (air) pollution, it will facilitate the development of the power sector and end meaningless deaths from generator fumes.
These deaths can be avoided if generators are banned in Nigeria.
For instance, on May 21, at 7:30 a.m., 2019, two brothers were found dead in a shop owned by their sister at Ojota area of Lagos State, after they allegedly inhaled generator fumes while sleeping.
Also, on July 12 , the same year, a Nigerian couple and their five children died in Rivers State due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
“A family of seven made up of the father, the mother and five children were discovered dead. They were suffocated to death by fumes from a generator.
“The victims were found dead inside their one-bedroom apartment in Too-Much-Money Street in Ikwerre, Rivers State.
“We have commenced investigation to unravel the circumstances that led to their death,” state police spokesperson, Nnamdi Omoni, said in Port Harcourt.
According to initial investigations, the generator was kept in the kitchen while the fumes spread into the sitting room where members of the family were.
Similarly on July 19, 2019, a family of seven, including husband and wife died at Elele in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State. With no power supply from the electricity company serving their area, the family turned on the portable generator, positioned it outside the door and went to bed. They were all discovered dead in their home the following day.
Damilola Joan lost her younger brother due to generator fumes in Lugbe, Abuja,
She went for vigil in one of the big churches in Abuja and left his younger brother at home. When she came back, she discovered her brother stone dead.
“My brother is a trader in Area One Market. We had agreed to go for vigil at the close of business. At 10 pm, he called me and told me to go and that he would meet me in church. When I did not see him, I thought that he had decided not to attend. In the morning when I came back, I discovered that the generator was still on but our window was open. When I knocked and nobody answered me, I peeped through the window and saw that he was still lying on the bare floor. I called him and he did not answer. When I sensed that there was something wrong, I broke the window with the help of neighbours. We, later discovered that he was dead.
“Since then, I have not put on the generator. The earlier the product is banned the better for all of us” she said.
Okere Nwankwo is a man in his 50s. He came back from work and found his wife and two children lifeless in their bedroom.
Okere is a menial worker with one of the construction companies. He went to work on January 3, 2020 and came back in the morning to see all members of his family lifeless. The fuel in the generator had dried up and the generator went off. But the autopsy disclosed that it was generator fume that caused their death.
He vowed that he would never use generator again.
On the other hand, Mr Ogandimma Joshua was rather lucky after discovering at midnight that his wife and his three boys were almost giving up the ghost when he raised the alarm and with the help of his neighbours they were revived but weak.They were given palm oil and other treatments before full medical attention could be given to them.
“I bought a new and bigger generator. So, I decided to bring it close to the window for fear of thieves. Somehow, the fume found its way into the bedroom. In the midnight, I woke up because I was choking. But when I tried to wake my wife and children up they were stiff. So, I raised alarm. The neighbours that came hurried them out of the room, put off the generator and revived them.
Those children are graduates now.
Since then, if there is no NEPA, I will not put on generator. Let them ban generator. It causes more harm than good,” he said.
Over the years, the issue of power supply appears intractable, and given rise to massive importation of generators. It was reported that past administrations spent a total of $16 billion trying to fix the power crisis to no avail.
Already the Muhammadu Buhari administration told Nigerians it has invested over N7 trillion in the hydro and gas sectors of the power industry but the situation has remained as parlous as it could ever be. But those conversant with the power infrastructure said only a quarter of government investment would have solved the nation’s power challenge if it was targeted at the renewable energy resource.
Rather than importing generators to kill fellow Nigerians, the Federal Government should pay more attention to renewable energy which is cleaner and safer than the energy from generators.
However, what is crippling the growth of Nigeria’s renewable energy sector is the heavy import duty charged on its components by successive administrations, a situation that makes it unaffordable by many Nigerians.
According to the Executive Secretary of Renewable Energy Association, Ms Lande Abudu, the Federal Government should remove subsidy to make the installation cheap.
“There was a zero-per cent duty on the components. But all of a sudden, I believe it was in June 2018, the government changed the order and removed zero per cent duty on solar components. The PV which is the panel, the actual unit and the battery now attract 5 per cent duty plus the five per cent Value Added Tax (VAT).
“If you have already put duty on it, how do they make profit? Yet we want to electrify Nigeria” she lamented. Renewable energy is energy from a natural source as opposed to fossil fumes.
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