The Silent Struggle: Living Without Electricity in Nigeria

The first time I experienced years of no electricity and was in total darkness was in 2007. This was when my parents moved to a new state and town after we were told to leave the house due to a company that bought the building. This was a long time ago, and I was about to enter Secondary School then.

We lived without electricity for good four years. Those who could afford a generator enjoyed constant light for their daily use, for example, our landlord. These people did try for us because they never made us lack electricity to charge our phones and other things. Every night, after dinner, we were always at their home watching TV while our phones got charged.

Electricity in my country is out of order. It's always a silent struggle in most parts of Nigeria. It is often annoying and frustrating, too, on days when we need electricity but couldn’t get it.

Light is good and there are lots of things it can do for people. For example, you can be sad for a few minutes, and then the light comes on and your mood changes, cheering you up. It brings excitement to our faces because with light, everything becomes lively and we can do so many things at the sight of light.

The most annoying part is when some other areas have light but you don’t. It feels like your place is the next bus stop for the wicked ones to host their meetings because you know, they don’t stay where light is. It used to hurt more than a fresh wound on your leg.

Who agrees with me? Lol.

I have experienced this many times, and the thought of having to knock on doors is one thing I don’t like, but do I have a choice?

I remember back then in the university, light was scarce, but thanks to a good number of homeowners who always put on the generator every time and knowing the area to be occupied by students, some fixed sockets outside where we all could charge, not like some selfish people who wouldn’t bother about that. Well, trust students na, we don’t mind knocking on their doors because we must charge. Lol, violence is booming if they act strong-headed.

But the disadvantage is that you charge at your own risk, and you would be careful not to leave your phones with anyone, especially those you don’t know. So everyone would gather around at night as we would start talking about funny things, and it was always fun then before we all returned to our respective homes.

Fast forward to this year, March precisely, when I moved into this apartment, I was very concerned about the light, even though I’d made plans already as an alternative because I wouldn’t want to continue staying in darkness even at night.

Being a writer and one who works online, light is part of what gives me motivation to work and be active. Have you had to be sick even though you aren’t sick, just that you feel weak and demotivated because your phone is dying, and the power bank you relied on is almost finished and you have no thought of where to charge next? That feeling alone could make one go unhappy and peevish too. Getting angry unnecessarily.

I asked around from different people about the issue of electricity, and they told me it was okay. I felt relieved, and yes, in the first few weeks I moved in, the light was stable, and suddenly, it stopped coming. We thought it was something not that serious and that they would bring it soon, but days turned into weeks and finally months.

I don’t know how I would have coped if not for my solar because I could feel for those who said they had to go ten miles to charge their phones and power banks with money every time. For someone like me who feels lazy to go out, except when I need to, I would have thought of packing out.

It was later that we realised there was an issue, and they were planning on fixing it by coming up with an idea that really made sense, which would make us have light more than before, and yes, they fixed that. Since July till now, the light has been stable and constant. We already know when they would bring the light and when it comes, it lasts more than 8-10 hours, which is very okay.

There are instances where I have lived in the past where they stole the transformers, but not here. I love this area as they take into consideration everyone and make sure we all enjoy good and constant electricity.

There are cooperative landlords and vigilantes here that hardly anyone would think of stealing the transformer because the way they built a strong iron around it would make it a hard mission for anyone to do such a wicked thing. So far, we now enjoy electricity like before and things are going well.

_{Images are mine}