Grid Collapse: Set aside religious, tribal sentiments, elect competent leaders, Obi tells Nigerians

The Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Peter Obi, has lamented the perennial collapse of the national grid in the country, attributing it to leadership failure.

The national grip has collapsed multiple times this year, plunging the country into total blackout.

In a statement on his X page on Wednesday, Mr Obi said Nigerians must put aside religious and tribal sentiments and elect leaders who are competent and committed to developing the country.

“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,” said the former Anambra governor.

Mr Obi decried the country’s lack of capacity to generate enough and consistent power supply. He recalled that South Africa recently celebrated seven months of uninterrupted supply on October 25.

“South Africa generates and distributes about 40,000 MW of electricity, while Nigeria struggles to generate and distribute just 10 per cent of that. Yet, despite this stark disparity, Nigerians continue to endure daily power outages.

“And when I ask the question: 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,” said Mr Obi.

The former presidential candidate said the collapse of the national grid had become.” regular news.”

“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,” Mr Obi added.