with Patience and Goodluck anything can happen ...

If I had written this piece yesterday it would have been pretty negative. For some reason two nights ago PHCN figured the honeymoon was over and ensured I had light only when I wasn’t at home. I had come back psychologically prepared for a ‘bad’ power situation only for PHCN to really behave well for my first two weeks in town. All over, comparing notes I was getting good feedback. Someone called in on Wazobia FM complaining that he was about to pack out from his abode because PHCN was giving too much light. He was worried that things may soon start blowing up. It was a joke of course. My pessimism on the power situation was slowly thawing with all these positive feedback then I moved and PHCN hit!

Apparently, there may have been a fault because sometime around 1 A.M this morning power returned and had been on till about 6:30 P.M after a few hours of settling in, doing some quick ironing then they took away their stuff. I had all but given in to another long night of darkness and contemplating how soon that gen had to materialize when they brought the light some two hours later. If it continues at this rate then I will keep pushing the gen matter further and further till I can squeeze the last drop out of the available power.

Even with all the psychological reprogramming, it’s not easy to adapt to the light situation (which I daresay is better than I would have imagined) after three years of practically stable power. First year in the host country, I counted a total of 17 power outages the longest with duration of 4hrs at least in the area I lived in. This year there had been longer periods of 12hrs but only for a day while some major fault was being fixed. I could pick up the phone and call the customer care to inquire as to why I had no light and I was usually told exactly when it would return. Once I called because my neighbours had light and I didn’t and the customer care person asked if I could locate my pole and quote the number on it for speedy resolution. That was the level of efficiency I was coming from.

The power company operated as a business. The power company installed pre-paid meters as part of the revenue generation exercise ie for free and compulsorily. 24 hr customer service, I had a friend (a Nigerian) who would call up the power company at 12 midnight to ask about light (just for kicks) and someone was always at the other end of the line. I used to ask him if he could do that back in home country. I hope we will one day get to that level of efficiency. Hope is a Nigerian and with Patience and Goodluck anything can happen (I just couldn’t help the pun here).