Published on the  15^th of Octobers, 2011.

 AMADI; GOOD OMEN TO THE ELECTRICITY SECTOR.

By Chidi Nwachukwu.Esq.

Any patriotic Nigerian will like to see Nigerians enjoy electricity without tears,and President GoodLuck  Johnathan appeared to have been so telepathic as to answer the prayers of Nigerians by his recent appointment of Dr Sam Amadi to head Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC.The news came as a big relief  to majority of Nigerians especially those who may have had one or two encounters with Amadi,a powerful  public  policy expert. It is no longer news that Amadi  has a rich academic background having been trained at Havard University for his masters Degree in Law LLM,and  Phd specifically.he also has a masters Degree in public policy and Management MPPM from the Kenedy school of Government,Havard  University,USA.

But beyond academics, Amadi  is a pragmatist with a fertility of mind and deep understanding of  issues  is it relates to the economy and public good,a quest that gave birth to the CPPR, Centre for public policy and research based in Lagos of which he was the Executive Director .The CPPR as a policy think Tank  played a leading role in the privatization process  by drawing Government attention to the   rule of law in the privatization implementation  in Nigeria through high powered public fora, often  involving Government people and civil society. Again Amadi is an ardent believer  in adding value and delivering the goods rather than any paper qualification. He has often demonstrated this by the manner he assign duties  to those around him, he is rather impressed by  efficiency than any paper qualification. This is one attitude that is not very common in our work environment in Nigeria. Lots of Nigerians are in the habit of gathering degrees by whatever means without adding value to society save for salary increase in  their offices. My then  Professor Uchegbu  at the University of Lagos described  these set of people as functional illiterates. However, that is a matter for another day.            

Issues of Electricity has become a guarguatan problem to the Nigerian state ,and  it is so critical to the economy that  it must be fixed  from all angles no matter how long and hard it will take. Since assumption of office by president Johnathan ,there seems to be some signs of improvement from various quarters which must be sustained if the country will ever  experience a buoyant  economy,  poverty reduction, unemployment and  other myriads  of  problems associated with poor  or unavailable power supply. However improved  power supply as been experienced  in most quarters must not come at a heavy price, and that is what NERC will ensure. Fortunately for Nigerians Dr. Amadi is a great advocate of regulation not just as a prerequisite for economic sustainance  but  as a human right concern .And  from  the perspective of poverty alleviation, regulatory capacity will ensure  basic services to the poor at affordable price. Regulation according to Amadi  is to protect the public from the juggernauts of market forces.

       

I still recall that  the workshop organized in 2006 at Rock view Hotel in Abuja by the CPPR  led by Amadi dwelt very much on regulation of services  after privatization. It  posited  that all the gains of privatization can become  a chimera if the regulatory environment is not clarified, that regulation  help to overcome the dangers  of privatization, including that privatization may become a process of creating a monopoly or entrenching an un unfair market power. From the perspective of  poverty and human rights,  regulation is important as a control on privatization to ensure that it does not work to aggravate poverty. Using the Telecom sector as an example of poor regulation, the workshop highlighted the high price of tariff in that sector  even as Nigeria was one of the fastest growing  mobile phone users in the world, yet the cost of doing business with telephone was still outrageous .  

Patriotic Nigerians have always looked forward to the day  when appointments will be made based on experience and expertise and this is one of it. Likes attracts likes and President Johnathan who himself has a rich academic background  has demonstrated in this appointment that he means well for Nigeria. Dr.Sam  is a good Christian and a very humble person just as Johnathan himself. Both also believe in merits, the reason why the president signed the recent Electoral Act even when it was perceived to be against his interest. He wanted to join the race on his own merits and not with any influence whatsoever, he wanted his achievements to speak for him and thank God that most Nigerians have attained such political maturity as to jettisoned their long held Religious or tribal sentiments to embracing merits and integrity. For indeed, that is the only way Nigeria can make appreciable progress.I could still recall the statement made by the president sometime midyear when he attended the first convocation ceremony of Gombe State University,he said that he noticed something unique about the university which was that he did not see people on the list of Honourary Degrees as it was common with most universities in Nigeria. He stated that Honourary Degrees are meant for people who have genuinely contributed to society meaningfully and not  otherwise. Such  statement can only come out from  someone who is merit driven.

We need qualified people in every area of our National life and not just in the Electricity sector, and for those of us who has been opportuned to work with Dr.Amadi at one time or the other, this appointment is certainly a boost  and a good omen in the electricity sector and indeed Nigeria,it is also a time to prosecute his convictions for the benefits of Nigerians.         

Nwachukwu,a legal practitioner  wrote in from the Kebbi State capital BirninKebbi.