‘Where is the change?’- Bob Manuel asks Buhari

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.