アメリカ民主主義さんの おぼえた日記 - 2024年11月3日(日)

＜BBCニュース11月3日＞
Living with Nigeria's blackouts - six weeks, no power
6週間にわたるナイジェリアの停電の中の生活

◎要旨
ナイジェリアの粗油業の中心地ラゴスでは発電部門での故障で停電が続いている。商売をする人々は発電機で発電するが、余計なコストが発生している。しかも、燃料代が高騰している。ナイジェリアの停電は今年だけではなく、慢性化している。経済の急成長にもかかわらず、発電設備は50年以上前のものなのだ。
The reception is poorly lit and a small fan barely moves the humid air as staff at Chidinma Emeneka’s laundry service in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, wait for the generator to kick in.

It roars into action, but the engine noise marks the start of extra business costs which have to be paid because of the failing power sector.

For 10 days more than a third of the country’s 36 states have been in darkness following a major fault in the transmission grid.

Ms Emeneka is one of millions who have been affected, and is now struggling to keep her business, Sparkle Inn Laundry Services, afloat.

The 27-year-old told the BBC that her firm turned to expensive generators to keep going after she was left without electricity once before for about six weeks.

On that occasion the cause was a power surge that damaged her meter.

“My meter is bad, the platform to apply for a new meter is down, there is no way to get a new meter and there’s no way to get light.”

This time the entire neighbourhood has been in darkness for over a week.

"Currently, we have been sustaining with an inverter and a generator but the fuel price right now is driving me crazy," Ms Emeneka says.

Her laundry offers a 72-hour service to return clean clothes, but the power shortage has left some customers waiting up to a week.

She says she has been forced to spend 35,000 naira ($21; £16) a day on fuel for her generator - and that is on sunny days, when a solar panel system is in operation. On cloudy days the generator costs can be double that.

★語句
endemic地域特有の
outage　（電力や水道の）供給停止

◎私見
先週の総選挙で与党は単独過半数を確保できなかったが、これをどう評価するかは、様々な意見があるだろう。だが、自民党が第一党であることは確かであり、反自民党の政権を作ってほしいというのが国民の総意というのは早計だろう。例えば、レプリコンワクチン論争をしているれいわが立憲民主党を支持するはずもない。
むしろ、日本のためにすべき政策を成し遂げることが国民の意思だろう。与党に迎合するだけで、自らの改善策を打ち出さない公明党が失速したことからも、国民民主党の玉木氏の主張の方が国民の意思に近い気がする。