By Whalis
Whoever that advised Nigeria to cut off power supplies to Niger Republic in order to compel the military junta there to relinquish power has done more harm to the diplomatic image of Nigeria than good.
Some of these countries that River Niger traverses were asked not to build hydrodam so that the one in Nigeria will have enough water torque to turn the power turbines in Kainji Dam. Niger Republic is one of those countries and had to rely on Nigeria for power supplies. Cutting them off and thereby affecting the generality of Niger people is another form of coup. It is the same as few persons taking action that affect the generality of people and mostly adversely. This is a breach of diplomacy. The agreement doesn’t have such provision to cut off supply to Niger should military be in power.
It will be recalled that the same government of Nigeria borrowed huge some of money which is about running Nigeria to insolvency and bankruptcy to construct a rail line to link Nigeria Lagos to Niger Maradi. The purpose of this is to encourage Niger to import through Nigeria instead of other countries they use. This according to the then Minister of Transportation R.C. Amaechi would create revenue and jobs for Nigerians.
The question is if you could cut off power supplies I had an agreement with you what about the rail you unilaterally constructed?
This action of cutting off power has opened up the wary and suspicious eyes of not only Niger but other countries which depend in Nigeria for some critical utilities like power.
There will be no surprises when some of these countries start to build their hydro-dams in violation of agreement they had with Nigeria with full technical and manpower assistance from Russia.
Whalis is a Concerned Nigerian
