This must be a case of NUMBER NUMBNESS (apologies to Mr Lihu of The Guardian)
I have just observed that all media outlets copied verbatim the press release about the so-called 116,659mW in an accounting period, November, 2018.
What exactly does that number mean? How does that figure relate with the public claim that Nigeria generates (and transmits?) between 3000 and 5000mW outside of the routine and under-reported systems collapse and a few loudly heralded generation spikes? . It should be obvious to everybody that 117,000mW and 5000mW are of very different orders of magnitude. Something must be wrong here. I proffer that it has to be in the unit of count. The earlier announce figure MUST have been 117000mWh. Please note the hour, h.
We should remember that there were 720hours in the month of November. This implies an average power generation availability of 162.5mW! That is a paltry figure compared with the already low figure of 5000mW. I am eternally suspicious of any statistics that I get from the government. It is quite possible that the press release from the TCN was off by a factor of 10. If indeed they had meant to announce 1,170,000mWh power delivery, we would still be talking about 1625mW average effective generating capacity. We would then have barely moved towards the Eldorado of power.
If I am right, I will still lament that I find it is so painful that not one knowledgeable individual in government, NERC and/or TCN has discovered this disinformation or found it worthwhile to correct it. Note that I am utilizing only simple arithmetic here. No Calculus, etc! I had concluded years ago in the public domain that the issue of Planning, Designing and Delivery of a viable Electrical Power Sector is NOT an equal opportunity matter. All views are NOT welcome! . A situation whereby the Units of Measure are not understood by the Policy Makers does not give room for confidence going forward. I tire!
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