Electricity Heartbreak: The Harsh Reality Of Power Supply In Nigeria.

Talking power supply in this part of the world is like talking about miracle, you never know when it will happen, its not so regular. In this same world, I know some places that have electricity running 24/7, to the point where they don’t even think about power outage. But here, in Nigeria, you can hear the sound the sound of "Up NEPA" countless number of times in a day, you’d think we just won a visa whenever the lights come on. People rush to plug in their phones, iron their clothes, pump water, and do everything they’ve been waiting to do since the last time power was restored, because who knows when it’ll go off again, cause most times, they(NEPA) often use the light as toy, they bring it and take it back in few minute, they might repeat that over a 20 times in a day.

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While still growing up, we have been trained to adapt. Anytime there light, everybody rush either to charge , to iron clothes, to grind pepper, to pump water or do anything that requires electricity before it vanishes again. And when it goes, we keep hoping till the next day or next month or anytime they brought it back. Here, it has become normal. Even in this heat period, we just look for an handfan or a light paper to fan ourselves sigh. But then, generators, right from the onset, generators have been our backup plan, but now, fuel prices have turned them into luxury items. If you don’t have money, forget it. You’ll just be there, sweating and praying for God to please touch the heart of the light bringers 😁.

Then, there’s solar power. It has helped a lot, I won’t lie. With solar, at least we keep the fan running, our phone charged, and a few bulbs on. But the solar we own personally has its limit, we can’t use it to pump water, we can’t iron clothes with it, if we decide to on the television and not be guided and watch, the battery will run down before night. And when that happens, that is back to square one, waiting for the national grid, that is if it hasn't collapsed, cause it always does.

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And the worst part is nobody even knows when light will come or when it’ll go. There’s no timing and no warning. One minute, you’re watching your favorite TV show and the next minute everything is dark, there are times they take it right in the middle of an important football match, come see the way people scream in frustration, when we were small, we do think those who own football viewing centers has gone to make a deal with the NEPA so that people will come pay to watch, but it was later we come to understand that its not so. This heat period is something else, we just keep sweating and its like they dont even bother, to sleep in the afternoon is a no, even in the midnight same.

There was a time I traveled, and the light where I traveled to was constant and I just kept waiting for it to go off, but it never happened. I could charge my phone anytime, use the fridge freely, we even turnoff the fridge mostimes. It felt unreal, like I was dreaming. And that’s when it hit me, this is exactly how it’s supposed to be. Power supply shouldn’t be a luxury, it should be a basic necessity.

But here we are, in a country where having electricity is a privilege. People are just installing inverters on a daily basis, trying to adjusting their lives around unpredictable power. While I was in school, I rented an apartment close to school then, and for close to two years that I lived there, I doubt if light came up to 10 times, and non of it lasted 24hours, for almost two years, in a student area. As Nigerians, we ways adapt, we have adapted so well that we don’t even complain as much anymore. We just laugh about it, make jokes, and keep pushing forward because, at the end of the day, we have no choice.

Light is just so important, imagine how much easier things would be if power was stable. Businesses would grow, people wouldn’t have to spend so much on fuel, and life would just be better. But till that day comes, we will keep managing, keep hoping, and still celebrate and rush to charge each time we hear "Up NEPA".

Posted Using INLEO