Nollywood
icon, Bob Manuel, has lamented the suffering and anguish Nigerians have been
made to go through in the name of ‘change’.
He
called on the Buhari-led government to bring the much desired change it
promised.
The
actor, in a chat with the Punch, said due to the epileptic power supply in the
country, he may develop hypertension should he calculate how much he spends
buying fuel to power his generator.
Bob
Manuel said, “My appeal to the government is to bring the much desired change.
Things are hard on Nigerians and we cannot continue like this.
“People
are suffering, there is no money. People are not smiling. These days, you hear
stories of food theft because of the bad situation of things. All is not well
for now.
”
I now use generators more than most Nigerians. We have no choice due to poor
power supply in the country. I rely mostly on generator for my power needs.
I
cannot estimate how many hours I enjoy government power supply in a day,
sometimes there is electricity today, tomorrow there is none. It’s an
on-and-off situation. Sometimes, there could be no power for weeks and I often
forget there’s anything called government power supply. It’s just like what
every other Nigerian experiences.
“I
have three generators in my house. It is not deliberate and it is not to prove
being rich, but it is because of the condition we have found ourselves in this
country. I run one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the night.
By doing this, I will be able to lengthen the lifespan of the generators. Of
course, running the generator throughout the day creates a deep hole in the
pocket, but what can we do with the epileptic power supply in the country?
“I
have stopped calculating the amount. It is painful. You can just imagine if
someone is spending just N1,000 per day to run a generator, in a month, you
would have spent N30,000. Many Nigerians spend more than that per month.
Personally, if I calculate what I spend on powering my generators, I will
develop high blood pressure. I don’t bother again and of course there is no
hope that power supply in this country will improve.
“No
hope,” he echoed. “There is none and I will tell you why. The issue of power
supply in this country cannot be solved in a day. The problem was caused by a
particular set of people in this country who don’t want to see things work.
Twenty years ago, having a generator was by choice, not something everybody
had. Only a few people had it. But things got worse afterwards and now the
importation of generators is big business and the importers are making billions
of naira from it.
“Some
of the importers are big people in this country who are doing everything they
can to not make power supply improve. Some of them partially own the companies
that manufacture generators. These people are in the government and wield huge
influence. I am pessimistic we can succeed in getting good power supply again
in this country. If it is ever going to happen, it will involve the shedding of
blood because the cabal will be ready to do anything for their business to keep
thriving. I am putting this as a challenge to the government, let them prove me
wrong. We can never get stable power supply again in this country,” the movie
icon reinstated.
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