When the Light is Here to Stay

Being away for the summer camp (and largely away from TV, radio, newspapers and the Internet) over the last week put me in relative isolation from what's been going on. My feeling of coming out of some kind of seclusion was heightened with the realisation that PHCN/NEPA really seems intent on improving its performance.

Over the last 2 or 3 weeks, we've had electricity most of the time. Whereas the old pattern was for PHCN to give us up to 15 minutes of light a day maybe twice a day, with the rest of the day spent in pre-historic like conditions. Now, we have light almost all day. I am so used to returning home from work to no light that it can be slightly unnerving to always have light. Where giving the gateman the key to get diesel to fill-up the generator was a daily occurence, I cannot remember the last time he reminded me that the generator needed diesel.

I discussed it briefly with my mum and she was equally as perturbed. We both wondered if all was well at NEPA.

Don't misunderstand me and think that I am actually complaining about the current state of things. No, no! It's just that when you have been used to coping with certain situations, you need to re-adjust when the situation changes. I just hope that very soon we will not have to return to the dark old days.

Living and Working in Semi-Darkness

Okay, what's up with the electricity supply in this our great country, Nigeria? It has always been epileptic, to put it mildy. However, these last few months have seen the electricity supply go down to almost nil. Stretches of days pass by where we have no light. At best, PHCN will grace us with 15 minutes of electricity within a 24-hour period. WHY BOTHER? It makes me so angry.

One of my colleagues had to spend a day and a half queuing to buy diesel for our generator at work. Without the diesel, we would be totally at the mercy of PHCN and we all know that means that we would be spending the greater part (if not all) of our work day twiddling our thumbs.