Last weekend, I had 24 hours of electricity supply. Scratch that, last weekend, I had 48 hours of electricity supply. But where I come from, even 24 hours of continuous electricity is an impressive feat.

Yeah. Its that bad. Its so bad we even praise the jokers whenever we get some power.

I have gone over the foibles of the electricity situation in Nigeria elsewhere. But the curious thing about the general mentality in this geographical roadshow called Nigeria is how we treat the lack of stable power supply as  a normal phenomenon. We are so used to the noise of generator sets and the glow of lanterns that coming across uninterrupted power supply gives us the creeps.

Left: Normal Bulb. Right: WTF?

You’re most likely reading this post through the internet (perfected in the 1980s) and the world wide web (invented in 1990/91) either via a personal computer (perfected in the 1980s), or a gprs enabled mobile phone, or maybe a tablet–all relatively recent technology, but now so widely available, if not even regarded as common.

“Nguigi, how you spell “boobs” again? I’m-a google it.”

Public electricity supply has been around since 1879, and in Africa since 1882.  All of those gadgets above, including this blog itself, were made possible through electricity. The world over, steady electricity is so common, its not regarded as an issue, except maybe in war-torn countries.

Wait a second, “revolution” is taking this thing too far. Right? Right, guys? Hey, why are you all staring at me like that?

Yet, in 2012, almost 100 years after the creation of Nigeria, I’m celebrating 24 hours of steady electricity as a technological breakthrough. But that’s the reality. Nigerians still lack, and need, electricity. They need it more than political stability, more than fighting corruption, more than economic growth, maybe even more than security.

Even more than dollars. Hehehe, just kidding.

Any president who can pull of a year’s supply of 24hour non-stop electricity supply is guaranteed a second term without any hassles. I will get him back into Aso Rock by force. I promise it. It doesn’t matter if he is illiterate or educated, tall or short,
northerner or southerner, honest or corrupt, dumb or smart.

Goodluck Jonathan or not.

He will get re-elected. Again. And maybe again. In the meantime, let’s keep praying to whatever spirit ails the power system. And that brings me to Sango.

This guy.

Sango is the Yoruba God of Fuck Everything. A very erratic and temperamental sort of guy who you could not rely on not to strike you down in anger for getting him warm water on a cold afternoon. Here’s a guy who, as an earthly king, was so scary that when he committed suicide, even his fans had to tread carefully around his dead body. If you ever need to dedicate the nuclear bomb to a God, then Sango is your man anytime. However, for reliable and stable domestic electricity supply–then forget it. Nobody can tame Sango.