Kuje, Nigeria — Kevin Aniebonem's voice is difficult to hear over the generator roaring in the background. The 24-year-old buys four liters of petrol every day to keep a light bulb running in his showroom of curtains, drapery, and fabric.
The $10 he spends on fuel is money he has to make up for with higher prices and sales every day.
"If we had power," he says, "business would be moving." The new council chairman in Kuje, the town where Aniebonem lives and works outside Nigeria's capital, Abuja, has promised to bring the district power. A new electrical pole was just erected outside the shop. Now Aniebonem is waiting for light.
Down the street in the Kuje Area Council office, the halls and corridors are jammed by 10am, filled with men, women, and youth like Aniebonem who hope the new government chairman, the Honorable Danladi Etsu Zhin, will hear their case. Tracing the line from the chairman's reception to his office door is easy; just follow the crowd's eager expressions. Every few minutes, his office door opens and another is let in.
"This is a grass roots office," explains the council's information officer, who identifies herself simply as Mrs. Olaliye. "He can't run away from the people. The door is always open."
Since his election as council chairman last April, Zhin looks set to meet Aniebonem's and others' expectations. In a district where most have had access to neither electricity nor water in more than 40 years, Zhin started to provide both after just over 100 days in office.
Electrical poles went up in a matter of weeks, stretching from Abuja's airport nearby to Kuje's villages and town center. Newly-purchased tanker trucks have delivered water to communities where boreholes cannot be drilled fast enough. The chairman says that more is planned for his four-year term. "The time is already running short, there is so much we want to do," he says.
Zhin is part of what many Nigerians hope will be a new generation of leadership, led by President Umaru Yar'Adua, a self-proclaimed "servant leader." Seeking to break the pattern set by generations of politicians who looted government treasuries, the President has staked his reputation on following the rule of law and fighting corruption. The violence and irregularities which marred the elections that brought him to power seem to have made him only more determined to succeed.
It is the same with Zhin. A member of the ruling People's Democratic Party, his election as chairman was challenged in a petition to a court, but upheld. Rather than upset his quiet demeanor, the petition seems to have increased his determination to deliver. "This government is for the people; I am just heading it," Zhin says.
Zhin is clear about what Kuje needs: light, health, roads and water are priorities. The Kuje area council is part of the Federal Capital Territory in which Abuja is located, but its roads and buildings bear little resemblance to those of the polished capital city. In Kuje town, commercial business is slowed by unpaved roads which are often impassable except by foot.
Many people from the town work in Abuja's city center but choose to live a 45-minute bus ride away where prices and rent are cheaper. Other residents are farmers, who plant subsistence crops, or cassava and yam to sell in a local market.
The money wasted on generator power is astounding; an electrician in the town estimates that most households spend about $40 a month on petrol while government power would cost only a fraction—as little as $6.50.
Danladi Etsu Zhin, now just 39, grew up in Kuje. He attended the local primary and secondary schools, leaving only to attend college before returning to local politics. Since he came to office, Zhin has been touring his area of jurisdiction.
Down the road from his office in Kuje town, villagers in Kuje Gudaba say he came through some weeks ago to follow up on campaign promises of electricity and water. "We believe him because of what he has shown us," explains civil defense officer Isaac Tyonumi, pointing to new power lines above his home.
In the town's commercial center, men pass cement blocks up a ladder, adding to the near-complete structure of Kuje's first town hall. Now politicians and citizens elsewhere in the capital territory are taking note. Its minister of state, Senator James John Akpanudoedehe, lauded Zhin's performance on a recent visit to Kuje.
Yet not everyone in Kuje is easily convinced. Politicians have made similar promises in the past without result; much of what Zhin now promises has been left undone for over four decades. Unfulfilled contracts, signed only to have payments released, litter Nigeria's budget—particularly in lucrative sectors like infrastructure and power supply.
Zhin says this is exactly what he wants to avoid. In July, This Day newspaper reported that the chairman annulled a contract worth N239m (about $1.9m) after the contractor allegedly left the work site without finishing.
Even if plans for electricity, water, and roads are realized, challenges will remain. Once power lines are up, homes and businesses will have to hire electricians to connect their buildings, something that Kuje residents say costs the prohibitively high sum of N8,000 (about $64).
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And there is no guarantee that the government's power grid can supply what is demanded in Kuje. Nigeria, a country of more than 140 million people, produced only about 19 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2004, according to the United States government's Energy Information Administration.
The grid cannot maintain a continuous supply of power, nor does it cover the whole country. So desperate is the energy situation that President Yar'Adua has proclaimed a national emergency to resolve the crisis.
Power lines, like the ones going up in Kuje, are a start to delivery, but production remains too low. Joseph Uko, a local electrician, says his business fixing generators has actually gotten better in recent years, even as more people have connected to the national power grid.
Still, Aniebonem says there are signs of movement—something he has rarely seen in Kuje before. He thinks things will improve "if there is a good somebody there." Danladi Etsu Zhin is that somebody for now.
Expectations of Nigeria's new administration are high. At least in this district, progress in delivering on promises is visible. All of Kuje is waiting for results.
