There is something happening in Nigeria that many people can feel but not everyone has put into words and if you sit with it for a moment, it should disturb your conscience.
A government promises electricity for all; years later, the grid still struggles at about 3,000–5,000 MW for over 200 million people. Then quietly, a different decision is made: ₦10 billion for solar at Aso Rock, another ₦7 billion follows. A plan to move away from the national grid.
At the same time, The Nigeria Revenue Service secures its own power solution. Across the country, over 250 organisations already generate their own electricity.
Pause here and think deeply. This is not just policy nor a signal. If the system works, WHY ARE THOSE WHO RUN IT ESCAPING FROM IT?? It’s clear that systems reveal truth faster than speeches ever will.
When leaders send their children abroad, use private jets instead of public infrastructure, build independent power instead of fixing the grid, secure themselves privately instead of fixing national security, they are not just making choices. They are PASSING A VERDICT ON THE SYSTEM they oversee.
This is where it becomes moral; Nigeria is not a poor country. Nigeria is a misallocated country: Oil wealth, Tax revenues, Public budgets, Collective national resources.
All meant to serve the many but increasingly structured to PROTECT THE FEW. This is the uncomfortable reality: when leaders design escape routes for themselves, instead of fixing the shared system.
It is no longer a public system, it becomes a private survival architecture funded by public money
The paradox of Aso Rock solar; solar is not the problem, in fact, it is a smart solution but leadership is not judged by what you fix for yourself, it is judged by what you make work for everyone.
Look around again, leaders move with heavy security, citizens move with fear.
Leaders fly above broken systems in planes and at times private jets, citizens navigate unsafe roads.
Leaders create alternatives, citizens endure consequences.
Also see: Nigeria Freight Agents Resist Dollar Charges For Empty Containers
In countries that work:
Leaders use the same hospitals as citizens
Their children attend the same schools
They depend on the same infrastructure
So they are forced to it because they cannot escape it. That is how systems are built. Not by speeches
but by shared consequence.
What are we seeing in Nigeria: A silent transition into a two-tier nation
- The Nigeria of self-sufficiency: Solar, Private security, Controlled systems, Comfort.
- The Nigeria of survival: Darkness, Bad roads, Insecurity, Uncertainty.
Both are funded by the same country. The danger most people miss is that when leaders detach from public systems, they lose urgency because they no longer feel the failure.
You cannot fix what you no longer experience, you cannot prioritise what does not affect you. That is how systems collapse quietly. Not because solutions do not exist but because incentives are broken.
What should be happening: A functioning government does not solve problems for itself first, it does the opposite.
- Fix the shared system
- Build redundancy for everyone
- Scale solutions nationally
- Ensure access is not dependent on wealth.
If solar is the answer then where is the national rollout? Where are the structured subsidies for households and small businesses? Where is the transition plan for the grid?
Abiodun Adetula
