By Fr Pat. Amobi Chukwuma
Grid and Greed are two homophones words. They sound alike but differ in meaning. There is a married couple in my area with similar shrill voice. People call them onomatopoeic couple. It will take hours for a stammerer to pronounce the word onomatopoeia. Anyone standing near the stammerer must give him or her some distance because pronouncing the last alphabets will end up boxing or slapping anyone close.
A grid is a network of intersecting parallel lines which can be real or imaginary. It is also known as a network of horizontal and perpendicular lines which are uniformly spaced for locating points on a map, chart, or aerial photograph by means of a system. Applied to electricity, grid is defined as a metallic framework used in a storage cell or battery for conducting electricity current.
It is also a system of electrical distribution which serves a large area, especially by means of high tension wires. The National Grid is a system of special lines which conduct electricity from power stations to all parts of a country. Thus the Nigeria National Grid is the power house which supplies light to homes, offices and other places in Nigeria and beyond.
This is over 4000 Mega Watts. Nigeria has twenty-three power generating plants connected to the National Grid with the capacity to generate 11,165.4 Mega Watts of electricity. The thermal generation is located in the southern part of the country nearest to the sources of gas while the hydro generation is located further north of Jebba, Kainji and Shiroro.
The National Grid is an interconnected network designed to deliver electricity from producers to consumers. It has to do with generating stations that produce electricity or high-voltage transmission lines that convey the electricity over long distances and includes the distribution systems that reduce the voltage for delivery to homes, offices and business centers.
An anonymous reporter on 18 October 2024 said that the failure of the National Grid “reflect longstanding issues within Nigeria’s power sector, driven by inadequate infrastructure, maintenance challenges, vandalism, and systematic corruption.” If the National Grid collapses, then there will be total blackout throughout the country and its extended areas. In this year 2024, the Nigerian National Grid has collapsed seven times.
It failed twice within 24 hours recently. This collapse is attributed to system failure. Of course the system is manned by human engineers and not by ghosts. I call this system failure the Eclipse of Nigeria. After 64 years of Independence we are still wallowing in acute darkness. Indeed our country Nigeria has failed woefully and is not counted among the Comity of Nations due to chronic or endemic corruption.
This chronic or endemic corruption ushers us into the second homophone word, which is Greed. Greed is the intense and selfish act or illicit desire for something, especially wealth, power and food. A greedy person is someone who has excessive desire for food, wealth or power. Such a person is insatiable. Some time ago, I came in contact with a man who has great desire for food.
One day we were discussing about birthday celebration nowadays. Unconsciously he told me that he was born in the kitchen when his mother was cooking. Emotionally I exclaimed, “No wonder you are very much interested in food!” He became infuriated. His face failed. He took offence and walked away.
In essence a person born in the kitchen must be food-oriented. He or she can be a cook, a food vendor or hotelier. A person born in a moving vehicle can be a driver or a bus conductor. Likewise a person born in the bush automatically becomes a bush man or bush woman, or a forest keeper.
Greed seems to have its abode in our country Nigeria. In fact, greed and corruption are identical twins born and brought up in Nigeria. They have grown old and have refused to pass away with time. Already they have gotten many children as well as grandchildren and great grandchildren who have spread to all the tribes in the country. They amass wealth by all means. For them, the end justifies the means.
In morality, the means justifies the end. Greed is found among the leaders and the led. It has infiltrated the three Arms of Government: the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. Those in the Executive go about in fleet of costly vehicles and live in gold mansions. The Lawmakers likewise receive jumbo salaries while those they represent die of hunger. Recently a certain Senator in a television interview proudly said that he receives fourteen million Naira as salary per month.
For him the amount is not even enough to solve his needs. The Senators are 109 in number. If you multiply 14million by 109 the total sum can cause economic earthquake. The salary of those in the House of Representatives may not be different and they are 360 in number. If you put their annual salaries and allowances together, the total sum can feed the Nation annually. The Judiciary also has been infected by the greed virus. That is why justice can now be obtained by the highest bidder.
Our Electoral System is marred by the greed virus. That is why we have not got it right, especially the Presidential Election. Since greed entered the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), things fell apart and the center can no longer hold. Out of greed, the electoral officials receive bribe and then falsify election results. Most returning officers collate and announce greedy results.
Just imagine what happens when greed assumes office. The Holy Scripture rightly says, “Every good tree bears good fruits, but rotten tree bears bad fruits” (Mtt. 7:17). The dividends of Democracy elude the electorates when greedy leaders are in power. They amass wealth by all means and empty public treasury into their private pockets. Many of the past and present leaders engage in money laundry. They starch tax payers’ money in foreign banks for their personal and generational use.
Greed is also inherent in some men of God. Such greedy men of God milk their followers dry by making false prophecies and collecting illicit tithes. While such greedy pastors smile to the banks, their adherents smile to the toilets. There was the instance of a certain greedy pastor who was asked by a member of his church to bless a newly bought jeep.
After the prayer of blessing, the greedy pastor prophesied that the car is destined to have a fatal accident involving its owner unless it is submitted for church ministry. Out of fear, the owner submitted it to the greedy pastor who drove away with it instantly. After looking up at the sky, the helpless man went into his house sorrowfully. Unfortunately, the greedy pastor was involved in head on collision with another speedy vehicle.
The greedy pastor sustained serious injury, such that his two legs were amputated. The other driver died instantly at the spot. Greed bound the greedy pastor on wheel-chair for the rest of his life. Since then till now he is crying, “Had I known!” Greed comes first while regret comes last.
If you share dining table with a greedy person, then you will always go hungry. When I was in philosophical institution of higher learning, I shared table with a greedy student. Whenever he was the first to dish out his own food, others starved. One day, he raised a mountain on his plate which made our table members to shout.
Instead of reducing the food mountain, he said, “I have viewed it. It will still go round and come back.” Eventually, it did not go round. He left with pot belly while others went out sighing. Such a greedy student will be a disaster to the society wherever he finds himself.
Finally, it is a pity that the National Grid collapses from time to time, but the National Greed refuses to collapse. Once the National Greed collapses, then the National Grid will stand firm and Nigeria will not be the same again.
