Yes, I know for some of my readers, this is a strange title for a blog post. However, for my Nigerian readers, it is a familiar expression. So, come, let me tell you the story of an adult that is still using baby feeding bottle at almost 60 years. What! Did you just say what? Don’t worry, I will be glad to fill you in. Maybe you will be able to help that overgrown baby to grow up.
As a youngster, we love to play outside. And in those days, we really could. The only way you could fall prey of the bad guy is by collecting something to eat from a stranger. So, your parents warn you never to accept candy or sweet, depending on the side of the Atlantic Ocean you are from, from strangers. But the only scary thing for me personally is the dark. I hated darkness like ‘kilode‘. I must confess that it is actually fear I had for darkness. So, I would go to bed very early before lights out so that I would not see it when the lights get turned off. However, my dad could not understand that fear. Talk of the old, clueless way of bringing up children – those hard parents, uhn. It did us a lot of good, sha. We learnt discipline and respect for the elders.
Anyway, back to my story; my dad would insist on putting the lights out once it was time to go to bed. I too would close my eyes tightly and hope the darkness would go away. However, once I could not sleep off through this strategy, I would be forced to open my eyes and start seeing all kinds of figures climbing up and down the mosquito net on our room window. At a point, I would start sobbing in self pity, but my dad would insist my mom should let me to stick out the darkness as he was watching over me to see what I was afraid of. I must add that this style did not solve the problem as I never out grew my fear of darkness until this my old age o.
Anyway, this is to give you a background to my ‘Up NEPA’ story for today. So, your sensible next question is: what is NEPA, right? Don’t worry, I will give you an answer soon.
NEPA is Never Expect Power Always, right? Yeah, I am just joking. Hahaha. I got you there. Anyway, by the reason of their operations, that appellation fits the acronym so well. If you always expect power in Nigeria, you are either staying in a bourgeois environment or you simply have become your own Local Government Area by providing your own power supply by yourself. If you are connected to the National Grid, you should know the full weight of NEPA in your life.
So, the secret is out now. Yes, NEPA is the National Electric Power Authority! Yes, it was the agency that was saddled with the duty of providing electricity for Nigerians. However, you have to be living in a dreamland or have ‘long leg’ (privileged) in order to have power always.
After some time, the organisation or government, whoever – thought the problem of the agency was in its name and changed the name to PHCN: Power Holding Company of Nigeria. And trust Nigerians, they found a way to cause the name to fit into the operations of the agency. It became, yes, your guess is as good as mine: Please Help light Candle Now because the Company is now truly holding on to power! Ingenuous Nigerians! I sincerely wish we can harness this our high wire intelligence to solve all our problems. Anyway, that is a topic for another day.
Further down the road, the government decided to unbundle the organisation, citing high level corruption. People got the sack and this time, there were many names such as AEDC, BEDC, EKDC, IKDC, etc. that grew out of the PHCN. However, the problem remains the same. So, are you surprised that the original name has refused to go away?
Nigerians love that name. But much more, they hate the darkness. So, involuntarily, whenever the power gets cut, everyone is downcast. Power generator boomed – its business took on a life of its own. And a cabal seemed to have taken over the soul of electricity supply in Nigeria. So, the terror of the generator noise every evening seems to be the beginning of wisdom. Anyway. let’s go back to Up NEPA.
The involuntary dip in mood that Nigerians experience when there is power cut also leads to an involuntary response when it gets restored. Yes, you are right. The response is always the same: Up NEPA! Hahaha!! Crazy, right? Yes, it is really crazy because from one end of the street to the other, from a toddler to the ancient centenarian, the response involuntarily is always a scream of ‘Up NEPA’. You can imagine the whole frustration experienced by Nigerians to involuntarily release such a seeming admiration of dead NEPA when wanting to express their excitement about the restoration of power. This is what is taken for granted in sane societies. But in Nigeria, you have to be watching out with one part of your mind if power would be available to do all you plan to do or if you will get thrown into sudden darkness due to ‘Down NEPA’. So, NEPA has remained because it is a problem that has refused to go away.
Up NEPA is thus not a compliment but a cry for a persistent problem to be solved in the life of a giant neonate, even in this 21st century when people are talking of 5G network in other climes. Who is going to help her? Do you have any idea? Please, post in the comments section your take on how to solve this 20th century problem lingering into the 21st century.
Do remember to follow me on my social media handles so you can be the first to get updates on our posts!
Thank you in advance!
@LaraNwabueze.
Prince of Peace Publications 