It is time to invoke the spirit of Sango, the god of thunder and patron saint of electricity

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Sango, the third alaafin of Oyo is regarded as Nigeria’s patron saint of electricity. His statue was erected outside the Nepa headquarters along Marina in Lagos as he is considered the embodiment of power. He and his famous axe are still mounted outside distribution companies today

[2] Just like patron saints elsewhere, there are dozens of myths surrounding Sango. He is reputed to have had a fiery temper that was so fierce that when he got angry, thunder descended from heaven

[3] Sango was reputed to be able to command fire from heaven, kind of similar to the way Elijah, one of the patron saints of Christianity did on Mount Carmel in a contest with the prophets of Baal. It is thus no surprise that Nepa used Sango as an icon, hoping he would command power from above

[4] I say it is time to build on Sango’s legacy by building dedicated solar parks bearing his name that will deliver power from above as he would have wanted to

[5] There are four undisputed patriarchs in Yoruba history - Oduduwa, Oranmiyan, Sango and Awolowo. Those behind the Amotekun project should have one solar park named after each of them. If the current governors in the southwest cannot provide common electricity, they have no moral right to cal themselves leaders

[6] I look forward to seeing this Amotekun project being commercialised. For me, this includes being able to generate power across the six states of the southwest geo-political zone

[7] Is there any reason why the six governors from across the southwest cannot create a mini Sango power grid that is solar-powered and can generate say 10,000MW of electricity? This should then serve as a spur for the other geo-political zones

[8] A regional solar grid can be backed up by state grids powered with a varied range of power sources - Lagos (wind), Ogun (hydro based on Ogun River), Ondo (gas-fired), Oyo (waste-based), Osun (solar) and Ekiti (ethanol)

[9] In the run-up to Christmas, Europeans never joke with rolling out their patron saints. It is time we learnt from them and maybe every December, we should unveil Sango big time, as part of a power generation drive

[10] I hope that everyone chanting restructuring realises that subsidiarity or devolution of power only provides you with an opportunity. It is not an end in itself, so it will be meaningless if you do not make use of the opportunity it provides