One thing I'm not going to miss in this country is the sound of generator. I've been hearing them for the best part of my life but I swear I have never been able to adjust to them.
The sound sucks out all the joy from life and I'd be glad if they didn't exist all together. Unfortunately, they exist and despite their noise, they play a very important role in the life of Nigerians.
Throughout my life, I was made to believe that the companies that import generators do not want constant electricity supply in the country. So, the rumour is that they pay power suppliers to ensure there's never enough light for people to operate and so, we rely on generators for electricity. .
I have never actually seen proof that generator sellers actually bribe electric suppliers, so it is just a conspiracy. However, I know that people try to scam the electricity companies and that in turn leads to electricity shortage.
While we were in Kaduna, the electricity supply in our area was pretty decent up until things changed. The cause? You guessed it; people were scamming electricity companies through nefarious connections that don't read in the prepaid metres.
So, because of the actions of some assholes, the rest of us that actually paid for our electricity were punished. You see, this is why we never get nice things.
Self inflicted
There are many areas in the country experiencing the same issue and what I've noticed is that it is a cascading problem. If Mr. A doesn't pay for light and Mr. B is paying but receiving the same amount of light as Mr. A, then why should Mr. B continue paying?
It's not like I'm supporting anarchy or anything but the entire scheme doesn't make any sense and I don't blame the people, nope, I blame the electricity suppliers.
Instead of figuring out a way to properly enforce electricity distribution and properly punish defaulters, they ignore it all and instead just take bribes to allow people continue to continue punishing the law abiding citizens.
So, at the end of the day, it is either you continue playing a fool and pay your bill or join the scammers. Pleased to say that throughout my life, I've been a fool and always paid my bill but it was always with a bit of teeth grinding.
The responsibility of ensuring people for electricity should be on the company and not the people paying for the service. We can go on and on about the ethical side of things but this is business and business is war, so you have to take it to the scammers hurting your business rather than take silly bribes that encourage them.