The electricity situation in my area is definitely nothing to write home about. In fact, in the past month, it has become worse than it was earlier. To worsen it all, just last week, during a heavy rainfall, our pole fell flat to the ground. To avoid an electric incident, we had to call an electrician to come cut the wires that feed light directly from the transformer. It makes me wonder where the media is getting its news that Aba now has constant electricity.
Just like every other state, I am sure no community in the present Nigeria can boast of 24 hours of constant electricity. That’s how bad the electricity situation is.
Before the incident happened, we had been in total blackout due to some issues with the transformer. Later, a group of Aba power workers came with a prepaid meter that was said to be given freely by the state government, but we were told to pay the sum of ten thousand naira for the prepaid meter to be given to us. Now, I cannot tell if the fee was authorized by the government truly, because if the said meters were said to be free, then why do we have to pay to get hold of them?
While the electricity situation presently in my area is bad, I wouldn’t dispute the fact that the electricity situation in some areas in Aba has improved. Two years back, it was being rationed between two, if not more, streets, usually two days on and a day off. But it later improved to almost 18 hours of light on a good day.
I pray that the present situation be rectified swiftly because it’s already starting to look like the old time when our transformer spoiled entirely and we had to stay for two good years before it was repaired. It was a time I like to refer to as “the dark times.” The whole street depended on their generators. It was like a war zone at night when everyone in my area turned on their generators.
Frankly speaking, I don’t think I will really feel the present light situation because I have my little solar already on standby to charge my phones and watch TV whenever I feel like. But still, I pray that the bad light issues be rectified as swiftly as possible too.
