In Nigeria where millions of citizens suffer the plague of little or no electricity, generators have come to be the best friends of several of us.
Generators in this country are bought according to the size of your ‘pocket’ and the most popular ones are famously referred to as “I-better-pass-my-neighbour” generators. They are small, relatively convenient, extremely loud, smoky, but they get the job done.
As of today, the Federal Government of Nigeria has decided that it’s time for these cheap generators to go! A ban has officially been placed on these small generators from being imported into the country due to the high rate of air pollution.
According to the Controller, Federation Operations Unit Zone A, of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in Lagos, Mr Madugu Sanni Jubrin:
“The smaller generators have been banned by the Federal Government because it is causing air pollution and destruction of our lungs and breathing system. That is why they have banned it but people are still interested in smuggling them in, that is why we intercepted 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.”
The customs service have promised to seize any of these generators that are imported into the country and offenders will be arrested and prosecuted.
We can only hope that this ban on generators which provides electricity for many Nigerian means that electricity supply in the country will improve, so that the ban is not felt.
Source: Nigerian Tribune
