Nostalgic return to Scotland: An amendment to Atiku’s production-subsidy proposal

By Dr. Olarinre Salako,

Last week, I returned to Scotland, more than eleven years after completing my Ph.D. at Heriot-Watt University’s School of Energy Geoscience Infrastructure and Society. I landed in the cold City of Edinburgh on Sunday morning to the warm reception of my friend and leader of the Inspire Nigeria Group, Evong Evong.

We attended service at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Open Heaven Edinburgh, where old friends were pleasantly surprised to see me. My business destination was Aberdeen, but how could I return to Scotland without seeing the people who made Edinburgh memorable? Evong and his wife, Inire, would not let me leave without a sumptuous Efik lunch. I warned them that they must visit Dallas so my wife and I can retaliate appropriately.

A Lesson for Nigeria from the United Kingdom

As always, Evong and I moved from family and Biblical discussions to politics. We discussed the 1707 Union of the Kingdoms of Scotland and England, under a renewed constitutional pressure after Scotland’s 2014 independence referendum.

Evong and I have spent years discussing how our federation can work better. Through Inspire Nigeria Group, we submitted constitutional proposals to the National Assembly in 2024 advocating a less expensive parliamentary system and stronger regional federating units.

If a centuries-old political union still requires continuous negotiation and accommodation, Nigeria cannot assume that nation-building runs on autopilot.

My £17.65 Lesson

Our discussion made me change my Ember electric-bus booking twice—from 4:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., and finally 7:13 p.m. Evong dropped me at the station at about 6:40 p.m. Then the bus was delayed for nearly an hour.

Every few minutes, the app updated me and apologised. The bus arrived around 8 p.m. I reclined my seat and slept until we arrived in Aberdeen around 11 p.m.

At my hotel, I discovered Ember had already emailed me and refunded my £17.65 fare as credit. I used the credit for my return journey.

It reminded me of 2012, when ScottishPower paid me £54 compensation after a 12-hour outage caused by storm damage. That was about three months of my electricity bills at the time.

There is a philosophy behind these experiences: people pay for services, but service providers also owe them quality delivery.

A Working System is not Cheap

This resonated because I had just completed my four-part investigation into Nigeria’s electricity sector.

I support cost-reflective pricing where necessary to attract investment and sustain infrastructure. But cost-reflective pricing must produce service-reflective accountability. If Band A customers pay premium tariffs for at least 20 hours of daily supply, persistent failure must have consequences.

A functioning market cannot mean only that citizens must pay. Providers must perform, regulators must regulate, and consumers must meet their obligations too. Electricity theft is no more defensible than persistent failure to provide a service for which customers have paid.

But a working market requires more than accountability; it must also confront affordability for those genuinely unable to absorb essential energy costs.

READ MORE AT OLARINRE SALAKO.