One of the few things I've come to deeply appreciate is the value of constant power supply, and that's probably because I've lived through frustrating moments of darkness that come with no power supply. When there's no power supply, it's as though everything has been put on pause, from dealing with heat due to no fan rotation to your device's battery draining, walking around in darkness, and the inability to use basic electrical gadgets that'll make doing chores easier. Despite the absence of power supply, it's strange seeing people act like it's normal; access to constant power supply ought to be a basic necessity and not a luxury.
Most parts of my country don't have a constant power supply, and it's just crazy sometimes when I hear people brag about us being the giant of Africa. I mean, how does that even make sense? A giant that can't give her citizens constant electricity, a nation where the people sleep in darkness and rely on themselves to get electricity from other mediums such as generators, solar energy, and inverters, it's just crazy, and I don't think we deserve the title of giant we've self-acclaimed ourselves to be at all, and that's not to forget that citizens still pay every single month for electricity even if they don't have it for an entire year.
Power supply in my community is very terrible; in fact, if there's any word that's worse than terrible, then I'd name it that, and that's because we didn't have electricity for the last five months of the year 2024, and that was how it has continued to this year, 2025, because there wasn't electricity for the first three months, making a total of eight months without electricity, and to think that they said they'd fix the electricity this month, yet what we're being given can't even power the bulb, not to talk of someone using a socket to use our home appliances.
I'm really disappointed in the system and the various politicians that supersede our community to think that they are being paid handsomely, and yet nothing is done to turn the tide around for us, the people. If it weren't for the solar energy invested in a few years ago, I would have been very much affected by this absence of electricity, but thanks to it, at least I can still use some basic home appliances and charge my device to connect with the outside world. The importance of power supply can't be overstated, and something should be done soon.
One of the reasons why I believe the absence of electricity thrives in my country is because most of these power supply companies still make you pay, regardless of if you're given electricity or not. Take, for instance, the past eight months that we didn't have electricity; we were still made to pay for every single month, even if they didn't bring the bill. It kept on adding up on a monthly basis, so if at all we want power supply to be stable, I believe one step ahead towards achieving that is making the power-holding companies give every house a prepaid meter, which signifies a pay-as-you-use solution, unlike a postpaid meter that charges you. unjustly.
The importance of a constant power supply can't be pushed aside, and a bit of having it can go on to take a toll on some of our home appliances. I remember after four months of not having electricity, I had to borrow my neighbor's generator to test run some of my appliances, and that's when I discovered some aren't even working. Now I've made it a point of duty to test run them at least once a month so as to keep them in good condition.
So, like I said, giving every house a prepaid meter might be a step towards having constant electricity, because at the end of the day, if all houses have it, then power supply companies would have little or no income and would be forced to either fix all the problematic national grids that would assure us stable power supply or just give up on earning anything from citizens who won't have reasons to recharge their meters since there is no power supply.
All photos are taken and edited on canva.