VOA标准英语2015--尼日利亚人就电力部门私有化感到失望

Privatization of Power Sector¹ Has Disappointed Nigerians 尼日利亚人就电力部门私有化感到失望

YOLA, NIGERIA—

The only thing reliable about Nigeria’s power supply is its unreliability.

From the megacity of Lagos to the capital of Abuja to state capitals like Yola in northeastern Adamawa state, the lights are frequently off.

Families and businesses that can afford them rely on generators³. The rest of Nigeria's residents make do with open-air flames for light and cooking.

Idriss Ibubi, a shopkeeper, said he pays for electricity but gets it for only a small fraction of the day.

“After you pay, there is no light," he said. Power is available for three to five hours a day, sometimes longer, he said. "Like now in my area, they normally bring light, midnight till maybe 6 in the morning. Highest is seven [hours]. Then you spend the rest of the day without light. If you’re a businessman, you must own a generator².”

Nigeria began privatizing its power sector in 2010, handing over state-owned distribution and generation companies to investors⁴ in an effort to improve power supply and transmission.

The Yola Electricity Distribution Co. serves between 180,000 to 200,000 people in the country’s northeast.  But company spokesman Aliyu Hassan Ardo said the company often does not get the 3.5 percent of available capacity promised to it — hence, the blackouts.

“We have been battling with little allocation, low allocation of electricity because of the low allocation, and also lack of giving us the right megawatt of electricity," Ardo said.

Nigeria’s power generation lags behind the demands of its own economy, which is Africa’s largest. The sounds of generators are ubiquitous.

Nigeria-based surveyor NOI Polls reported that in 2013, 81 percent of Nigerians used alternative sources for electricity other than the national grid⁵.  

Idayat Hassan, director of the Center for Democracy and Development in Abuja, said rundown power plants have continued to hold back the energy sector, which is vital for job creation.

“We have infrastructural⁶ deficit," Hassan said. "There is a culture of maintenance rather than building. So when you have all these old, decrepit⁷ power plants ... and not many are being built, what they are trying to do is maintain them. The reality is obvious.”

That reality, for many in Nigeria, is simple: No power, no money.

1 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

2 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

3 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

5 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

6 infrastructural   

adj.基础结构的基础设施的

参考例句：

• Must increase the investment dynamics unceasingly, strengthens the countryside infrastructural facilities. 要不断加大投入力度，加强农村基础设施建设。 来自互联网
• In the 1980s, India started with some infrastructural advantages over China. 1980年代，印度在某些基础设施方面优于中国。 来自互联网

7 decrepit   

adj.衰老的，破旧的

参考例句：

• The film had been shot in a decrepit old police station.该影片是在一所破旧不堪的警察局里拍摄的。
• A decrepit old man sat on a park bench.一个衰弱的老人坐在公园的长凳上。