By Tony Eluemunor
Sadly, Ambassador-designate Mr. Reno Omokri has refused to find a
modicum of dignity from somewhere, anywhere, with which to cover
himself. I don’t quarrel with his avowed duty of defending Mr.
President from any and every attack, real or imaginary, though
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has designated spokesmen aplenty. That is
a personal choice and any man can be a fool, those who will be will
still be despite the non-foolish capabilities and intelligence the
almighty God endowed them with.
Yet, the gutter he threw himself into when he equated the recent power
outage affecting some states in the United States of America with
Nigeria’s scandalous electricity supply is worrisome. Nigeria’s
shameful electricity generation and distribution low indices did not
begin with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration. It might not
even have become worse under Tinubu. That problem has bedeviled
Nigeria since the 1980s when heavy industries began to die because
they lacked adequate power supply. That was why the Dunlop tyre
company relocated from Nigeria to Ghana in the 1980s/90s. That was why
the heavy textile mills across Nigeria almost died out entirely.
Omokri advertised his senselessness or insensitivity in that post
where he thought he was attacking Mr. Peter Obi and this
Ambassador-designate thus served notice that he will be a useless
Ambassador. That brings us back to the question of why and how
President Tinubu nominated him, when it has been most obvious that the
poor man actually wants to remain a social media warrior. Which
characteristics threw him up? What in him showed that he had the
promise of representing Nigeria’s interests well in a foreign country?
The doubts resonate further when it is remembered that what drew the
attention of the Tinubu administration to him, as Mr. Omoyele Sowore
recently recounted in court, is nothing more dignified than that he
had accused Tinubu of narcotics-related crimes.
Before we interrogate Mr. Omokri’s claims about power outage in the US
which he favourably compared to Nigeria’s, may we please check the
effect of low electricity supply in Nigeria. Several heavy industries
and multinational corporations have either completely exited Nigeria,
shut down manufacturing plants, or scaled back operations, not since
the years of yore but between 2020 and 2025, with high energy costs,
unreliable power, and foreign exchange volatility cited as primary
drivers, according to internet sources. Please, remember that the
first APC administration, headed by President Mohammadu Buhari, began
in May 2015 and started its second tenure in 2019.
In 2023–2025, over 60% of manufacturing firms were forced to abandon
the national grid for self-generation due to poor, unreliable service.
The effect of such is that the price of their products or services
would have increased, causing a hike in the inflation rate, reducing
the peoples’ purchasing power and their quality of life.
The heavy industries and major firms that have departed or scaled
down, heavily impacted by the energy crisis as tossed up by the
internet checks include: Procter & Gamble (P&G): Ceased manufacturing
operations in Nigeria in December 2023, shifting to an import-only
model, partly due to the difficulty of operating in a challenging
business climate with high energy costs. Effect; the Nigerians that
had been employed in its manufacturing facilities lost their jobs and
the economy lost their taxes. And those unfortunates had no safety net
to break their falls. They and the members of their families were left
all alone to suffer their sad fates.
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria PLC (GSK): Announced plans to exit
Nigeria in 2023 after 51 years, ceasing manufacturing in 2021 and
moving to a third-party distribution model.
Unilever Nigeria PLC: Stopped the production of its home care and
skin-cleansing products in 2023 to reduce exposure to foreign exchange
and energy challenges.
Diageo PLC: Sold its majority stake in Guinness Nigeria PLC in 2024,
shifting from direct management.
Kimberly-Clark Nigeria: Closed its production plant in 2024 due to
economic challenges.
PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC: Experienced significant disruptions and began
restructuring, citing economic volatility.
Microsoft Nigeria: Impacted by layoffs in 2024, closing its African
Development Centre as it realigned its local operations.
Tower Aluminium Nigeria PLC: Shut down operations in 2020 after
decades in the country.
Manufacturing & Other Firms that Closed/Left: Framan Industries Ltd,
Stone Industries Ltd, Mufex Nigeria Company Ltd, and Surest Foam Ltd:
These firms shut down operations in 2021. Universal Rubber Company
Ltd, Mother’s Pride Ventures Ltd, Errand Products Nigeria Ltd, and
Gorgeous Metal Makers Ltd: These brands ceased operations in 2022.
Deli Foods Nigeria Ltd and Standard Biscuits Nigeria Ltd: Closed
around 2020–2021. Equinor Nigeria Energy Company: Sold its 54% stake
in Nigerian oil assets to Chappal Energies in 2024, exiting after 30
years.
Now, who has kept tab of the number of jobs Nigerians lost when those
outfits shut down? Who has tracked the quality of life among the
former employees of those companies?
The Key Factors Driving the Exodus:
Low Electricity and High Energy Costs: Manufacturers are spending
billions on diesel generators to keep machines running, making
production costs uncompetitive.
Grid Collapses: The national grid recorded over 12 collapses in 2024
and several in early 2025/2026, forcing a shift to “captive”
(self-generated) power, with over 60% of companies now off-grid.
Foreign Exchange Volatility: The devaluation of the naira has made
importing raw materials and machinery for heavy manufacturing
unsustainable. That does not mean that the companies that have not
shut down production in Nigeria are having it good. For instance, in
2025 alone, over 20 additional firms (including large manufacturing
entities) were reported to have received licenses for independent,
captive power generation, indicating a mass movement away from the
national grid. The direct result of this is that such firms have left
their core businesses to begin to hunt for electricity
self-sufficiency simply because Nigeria has failed to provide the
needed electricity for them.
It is in that milieu that Omokri made his unfortunate post that power
outage is not such a sign of national failure because it happened
recently in the US. So, it is a disaster foretold when a person of Mr.
Omokri’s standing begins to commit fallacies of the most basic kind,
shamelessly. He is an Ambassador designate, for crying out loud.
So, does it mean that if President Tinubu asked his
Ambassador-designate if there was any need to upgrade Nigeria’s
electricity generation, transmission and distribution system to match
USA’s, that Omokri would tell him that there was no difference between
them? And that his answer would remain so even if an earthquake had
caused the USA outage?
Please, read Mr. Reno Omokri’s self-mockery; “The United States has
suffered several major power grid failures, resulting in widespread
outages, including a blackout that left 55 million people without
electricity. As you read this, the United States is experiencing
blackouts across multiple states as its power grid nears collapse.
These things happen in every country on Earth. It is not limited to
Nigeria, and it is a pity that Peter Obi, who last year lied that
Tanzania had solved its power problem and asked Nigeria to learn from
that nation, is up to his old tricks by de-marketing Nigeria over the
recent power grid collapse”.
I don’t know exactly what Mr. Peter Obi said about Tanzania, but I am
not about to take whatever Mr. Omokri attributed to Obi as anything
near the truth because of his antecedents. He once made sundry
accusations about President Tinubu, calling him all sorts of names
except a child of God, only to recant. But then, if for his efforts he
emerged an Ambassador-designate, why would he stop lying when lying
could be a highly remunerated “job” in Nigeria? For instance, I keyed
in “Peter Obi on Tanzania’s electricity supply” and guess what popped
out? “In April 2024, Peter Obi lauded Tanzania for its improved
electricity supply, noting its ability to power major cities and
achieve high, stable access. He highlighted the country’s reported,
though debated, surplus power generation, urging Nigeria to emulate
such progress.
Key details of his statements regarding Tanzania include:
Observations: Obi claimed Tanzania achieved such high energy output
that it was able to temporarily shut down some hydroelectric stations
due to excess in the national grid, as seen in (an) Arise News report.
Comparison: He expressed frustration that Nigeria, “the giant of
Africa,” cannot adequately power its cities while Tanzania, has made,
according to his X post, significant progress in its power sector.
Call to Action: Obi urged the Nigerian government to learn from
Tanzania’s approach to enhance electricity accessibility and
stability….” So, did Omokri lie against Obi? You and God be the judge!
Tanzania produces about 3, 000 to 4,000 megawatts of electricity for
her 70.1 million people. Omokri gloried in this claim: “Under Tinubu,
Nigeria broke its power generation record with a peak generation of
5,801.84MW and maximum daily energy output of 128,370.75
megawatt-hours (MWh), the highest ever attained in the history of the
electricity industry in Nigeria”. But with Nigeria’s population of
approximately 237.5 million people, Nigeria actually has a lot to
learn from Tanzania. Ever worrisome is the reliability of power supply
in Nigeria because the national grid is prone to frequent failures,
with over 140 instances of collapse recorded in recent years. Recent
major collapses occurred in October 2024, November 2024, December
2025, and over two times in January 2026.
Now back to Omokri’s insinuations about electricity supply in the USA;
the US occupies the second position in the world in electricity
supply, after China (please remember the populations of the two
countries. Now tried as I did, I couldn’t find the percentage of homes
that do not have electricity in the US. It was like I was asking a
stupid question. I stopped that stupid quest when this popped up: “Can
you legally live off the grid in the US?”. What a question? And the
answer: “Yes — you can legally live off the grid in the United States,
but success depends on compliance with local zoning, building codes,
water and waste regulations, and power system requirements.” Where I
come from, there are no building codes, no water and waste
regulations, no power system requirements and whole towns and villages
live off the national grid not out of choice but because the country
has failed to extend that amenity to them. Actually it appears that in
Nigeria, the reason why governments exist has not been found…and that
is why Tinubu’s administration has spent two years in office without
appointing Ambassadors.
And to tell us that Ambassadors may not be important, he appointed
Reno Mocking Omokri as an Ambassador-designate. This motor-mouth
self-mockery mocker Omokri may even advise Tinubu that the New York
World Trade Centre’s collapse in the terrorist attack of 9/11 was
proof positive that building collapse abounds in New York City just as
in Lagos. He could fire off a memo in a diplomatic pouch that an
earthquake in USA that tore up a road shows that leprous roads are not
Nigeria’s preserve. Otherwise, how a non-diseased mind could have
dreamt up the asinine illogicality that a storm-related power failure
anywhere equals the inexcusable incessant power failure that shames
Nigeria, including the Presidential office, daily, is a cause for
worry. But then, such a person with such a mind has become Nigeria’s
Ambassador-designate. This is one great “feat” Tinubu will be
remembered for – even as the world laughs at us.
The views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Law & Society Magazine.
