Nawa o.
I couldn’t sleep well last night, therefore I put finger on keyboard to write this piece.
Power supply in Abuja has been such bad news. It started with electricity going off for a few hours on Monday, Oct 10 2011 then gradually going for a whole day and more. I thought it could just be peculiar to my area which was very unusual (I am favoured to have found an APARTMENT in an area specially loved by PHCN. Guess they realized that Ugochi has moved in. No vex, no beef me. Receive this same miracle …….AMENNNNNN). Anyway we soon got to realize that it was not just us, it was a total ‘’BLACK-OUT’’ in the entire nation. The Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) shut down five power stations in the country because Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) shut down five gas stations for maintenance to help improve gas supply to the power plants. With the shutdown, Nigeria will be losing about 1,400 megawatts of electricity. And so since monday, tons of carbon have been realized into the Nigerian atmosphere. To worsen the situation, RIM seized the Blackberry network , right after Airtel users recovered from a network shutdown caused by a protest over the undue sacking of about 3000 of Airtel staff. With all these many issues, ICT had a down time, thereby adding fuel to fire.
I usually sleep and sleep well, and not even a sucker mosquito with metal “piercing and sucking” equipment is able to stop my sleep till I am ready to wake up. This night, was different. The noise generated by the ‘’very many’’ generators in and around my vicinity is able to alter ones sense of hearing. OMG!!!!!!!
Half of my neighbours have been running their generators the past 24hours, not even the darkness of night nor the sweetness of sleep would stop them talk less of ‘’eco-friendliness’’. A large amount of the air we are going to inhale this night and in the days to come would contain some amount of carbon monoxide. Carbon inhalation for the generator user and a non-user like me. Yes I do not use one. Not because my salary no reach, I just don’t like the noise and I ‘’HATE’’ the fume. The last one I had was just powered for a few hours, stayed out redundant for months till I gave it out and remember I stated earlier that my area has generous supply of power so you would not quite miss not having a power generating set.
The power sector of Nigeria has been a huge failure and over the years, the people are beginning to give up on ever having constant power supply. We have heard different sweet promises by politicians. We have also seen probes of individuals involved in looting of funds, billions of dollars meant to bring Nigeria power. Nothing is ever heard after the initial ‘’gragra’’ (so much noise about the issue). We are still believing and hoping that President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan delivers on his promise in the area of power provision.
So for millions of Nigerians, especially those who never see electricity beyond 2hrs or less daily, monthly or yearly, this ‘’BLACK-OUT’’ season, the inhalation of toxin has increased. Businesses will be halted, running cost would increase, children would breathe in the fumes emitted, and globally, extra pressure (no matter how small) would be added to earth’s climate. It’s a cycle. This extra pressure will further alter the climate and a rural farmer would cry when the extreme sun dries up her crop, when his cattle finds no grazing area or the excess rain washes her crop and investment away. For we, city dwellers, we would pay some extra naira to put food on our table, And for the super rich who doesn’t mind an extra bucks, you and your entire household would pay by joining the poor/everyone to inhale this air that we are polluting.
For the Politian and contractor who stole the funds for solving this energy crises, u-follow-join. Whether you live in Nigeria or not, the climate we are changing is the same. And the companies manufacturing and shipping to Nigeria, you would experience earth’s anger as well.
I would try and go back to sleep. I do not have the power to stop the deafening sound from these generators, nor the power to stop the carbon from finding its way into my room once in a while (because I need air, the windows have to stay open) but I have realized that I have the power to ensure my children have a better environment. The power to secure their future, their health, their share of earth’s resources (until Christ comes for the saints. Yes I am a Christian) and save their own children too. I can do this by sticking to living an eco-friendly life style. It’s not always as easily done as preached, but step by step, day by day, I would ensure that every one of my action is fair to the environment. I would strive to reduce my carbon footprint by ECO-ly thinking through my every action. But for my power to work, I need to work with you. I need you to do your part. Please consider our dear mother nature.Local individual actions would bring about a global result.
By Franke James
I will try to get back to sleep………Awwwwwww!!!!!!! Low batteryyyyyyyyyyyy……….
Today
I have asked about 5 colleagues what they thought about the blackout and guess what, they asked me “When”? They amazingly did not notice. They have gotten so used to NEPA Never Expect Power Always(old name). PHCN Power Holding Company of Nigeria (new name). We hope this maintenance really improves our electricity. Stop holding the power. The name change did not work biko !!!!!!
Eco Nigeria 