"I Better Pass My Neighbour" Gets A Ban

A few years ago, loads of Nigerians could very well do without having generator sets because electricity was a lot more better until recently when NEPA, PHCN or whatever it is now called became VERY epileptic.  Back then, when the light goes off, one would still be seated for a couple of minutes until the light was restored unless there's a major fault such as a transformer blowing up due to fluctuations or huge surge of current.

The epileptic light supply brought  the flooding of the Nigerian markets with all sorts of generator sets. Until then, there were very few homes with generators as they were mainly found in places which included large organisations and hospitals for backup should the need arise.

As the importation of these generators boomed, the National Electricity Power source kept getting worse and of course while the importers smiled to the banks, the health off the people dwindled as many Nigerian families or their family members died/became ill due to heavy exposure to carbon from the fumes of the generators which started polluting the entire country.

Apart from the fumes, other hazards are linked to these sets. Few years ago, I lost two friends who died from injuries sustained when their sets exploded. We've heard of ignorant children who were sent to turn on these sets and they went with open flame candles. The rest is history. 

With the importation of these sets which came in different sizes, every home irrespective of  income can now afford a set. The commonest of these sets is the smallest of them all which is locally and popularly called "I better pass my neighbour" suggesting at least a class above the neighbour who cannot afford any.

This 'I better pass my neighbour'  and the bigger ones as well as the heavy duty ones have become a huge menace to society causing major health and environmental pollution. The noise from all these sets when turned on at the same time in any area can make any sane person run made especially at night if you live in a well populated environment. Even when you buy the so called 'silent' ones, *hmmm* after a while, they join the noisy ones irrespective of monthly 'servicing' by the suppliers, the once 'silent' generator set would eventually join the league of  what I call 'shouting' sets.

It is noteworthy to mention also that while the importers of these sets are smiling to the banks, their accomplices, fuel marketers/owners of gas stations who it seems are obviously hoping that this situation remains are also happy visiting the banks and of course making their account officers happy and the chain of happy people continues at the detriment of major Nigerians.

It is now a trend to see long queues of gallons on one side of a pump at the stations and longer queues of cars on the other side. The cars' queues are normally longer because the attendants would rather attend more to those buying in gallons and then collect extras from them without apologies than selling to car owners who would only buy at the exact pump price.

Now with the scarcity of fuel biting harder by the day, it is even now trendier to find people after getting properly dressed, would thereafter carry an empty gallon on his/her way to work just in case he/she stumbles on a station where there are no long queues.

And so it is with a round of applause I received the news that the Federal government has banned the importation of the 'I better pass my neighbour'  for sale which is the commonest and easiest to sell off compared with the other brand of generators.

This is a good pointer that maybe the light situation will become better or get back to the way it was in the 80s and 90s. *Did I hear anybody say Amen?*

A spokesman of the Nigeria Customs Service, Madugu Sanni Jubrin who is the controller of Federation Operations Unit Zone A in Lagos,  said the smaller generators which have now been banned by the Federal Government cause air pollution and destruction of  lungs and breathing system hence its ban.

"People"  according to him after the ban, “are still interested in smuggling them in, that is why we intercept them. If you go to the market, you still see them because people have imported them before the ban. So it is the leftover they had before the ban that they are selling because the law did not backdate the ban and it is not an absolute prohibition. It is prohibition by trade which means you cannot bring it in large quantity and sell to the public. That is the type of prohibition we have on this but if you buy one piece, Customs will not seize it”.

I believe with time, even the importation of any kind of generator set will be BANNED  so that our environment would become sane again even as electricity power improves.

So stakeholders! Start importing other things which would be more beneficial to Nigerians and the environment without any side effects!!

Like always, NO HARD FEELINGS!