Dr. Babajide Ololajulo

Babajide Ololajulo

In November last year I moved into an apartment that was only recently completed. Then, electricity meter was not yet installed although the building was already connected. Hmm, free electricity!

I did what the average Nigerian would do – left the air conditioners in all my rooms on, permanently. I switched them off only when I think they had worked enough. I ensured the water heater always had hot water. Poor me – no consideration for energy use since I was not going to pay. It wasn’t really my fault. Most people of my age would remember a particular bulb in the house that was always left on. If off, you can be sure that NEPA had taken light.

A month in my new apartment, and the AEDC installed a prepaid meter. Now that I would be paying for electricity consumed, I made some adjustments here and there, but still preferred all the rooms always cool though I practically used only one.

Fast forward to early this year when Penkele introduced the electricity band regime. First month, and I expended N100k on electricity! I didn’t need advice from anyone to scale down on my energy usage. First, my air conditioners got their work designation changed from full-time to part-time. I thought I was alone in that boat until a neighbour called my attention to the fact that air conditioners in all other apartments had since been put on the sleep mode. I laughed. Something unusual had happened! We all felt it!

Not done with my structural adjustment, I bought a kettle to heat my water since it appeared that LPG was relatively cheaper than Penkele’s Band A tariff. I also got a rechargeable fan to be used at night when I would have switched off all electricity consuming devices. Guess what; the next N50k units that I bought lasted for two months. That’s simply N25k per month. Impossible! I reflected on my consumption style and was disappointed in myself, seeing that it required what the street would call a brain resetting slap, à la tariff increase, to cut down on my wastefulness.

Anywhere in the world, energy is not cheap. Some years back, I visited a friend in the United States during the winter period. I was surprised that he didn’t switch on the heater to warm the house even when the place appeared very cold. All we did was wear some extra clothing. At bedtime, my friend gave me a huge duvet to withstand the night cold. All through my stay, the heater was used sparingly. I didn’t understand then, and I thought he was stingy. But after my Band A experience, I realised that there were a lot of lessons to learn from the saner climes we so much love to reference.

In 1989, the Juju music legend, Ebenezer Obey, released the song, Formula 0-1-0 to speak about the hunger and privation in the land. Obey, characteristically, waxed spiritual in the album, linking the unbearable hardship with shared iniquity, for which he sought God’s intercession. No doubt, Formula 0-1-0 evoked many memories from the suffering of that era. I remember the many trips to sawmills. Somehow, sawdust stoves became popular after the price of kerosine soared. There were other memories, but they aren’t my interest here.

Obey sang that suffering makes one wise (Ìyà ló nkó omo aláìgboràn kó tó di ológbón), affirming that we already learned enough from our travails. Baba Commander is still very much alive, and I am not sure he won’t be wondering what manner of people we are. Year in, year out, we suffer without learning anything. I sincerely hope that finding meaning in the current misery can lead to a journey of self-discovery for many.

In truth, some habits that make us happy or give us fulfilment are no longer sustainable. Think of how much you are spending on that owambe and what that amount can do in terms of other financial commitments like school fees, house rent, clothing, transportation and so on. Or you are still “shooting”, aiming for a boy child, even after having three female children. Just try and imagine anything a boy child can do that Ngozi Okonjo Iweala won’t do ten times. I am not a sadist, but I doubt if I will congratulate any couple coming out of the delivery room for the fourth time.

Also, living in self-built houses is culturally desirable. It appears to make sense in a country where rent is highly unregulated. However, people hardly strike a balance between the drive for home ownership and their transportation needs. In the desperate bid to be called a homeowner, some people end up spending more than 50% of their monthly income commuting between their homes and workplaces. There is no wisdom in this. Interestingly, I knew a newly married couple who opted for a three-bedroom flat when they could start life in a room and parlour. They considered the latter demeaning. Low-income earners fa!

And this short story! Between 1996 and 2001, I lived in The Gambia, working as a schoolteacher. When I arrived the country, I was amazed seeing so many leftovers (rice) dumped in waste bins usually placed in frontage of houses to catch the attention of passers-by. I was told such was an indication of food sufficiency and families took pride in cooking to have enough leftovers. The more leftovers exhibited the more the family gain respect in the neighbourhood. But, at the time I was leaving the country in 2001, the waste bins were literally empty. I guess the people could not afford to waste food after the economic decline of the post-Jawara era.

In Formula 1-0-1, Ebenezer Obey entreated God to bring about good times, reckoning that we had paid enough price for our transgression (Bá wa yí ohun gbogbo padà kó dára; ìyà èsè tí a je ó ti tó). Who else think that prayer wasn’t answered. But Obey sang into the future – mass of people at bus stops (Gbogbo bus stop lèrò dúró de mótò, èrò, èró po jú mótó lo); oil revenue dwindling considerably (Owó epo ò wolé dédé mó); government importing vehicles to ease transportation woes (Wón ti sètò láti kó mótò wolé). So, all these happened in 1989! Little wonder, it is said that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The Good Book says we cannot continue in iniquity and hope that grace would abound. Likewise, Albert Einstein suggested that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. In reality, we aren’t departing from our sinful ways, and I hope the current spanking can drive some senses into our heads.

We love to talk about saner climes but quickly forget things are done differently there –  electricity consumers do not bypass meters in saner climes; teachers do not skip classes at will, civil servants do not load payrolls with ghost workers, nurses do not scream at patients, mechanics do not manufacture faults for vehicles, market men and women do not use false measures of length, weight, or quantity, drivers do not ignore traffic lights, and people do not borrow to throw lavish parties and they do not celebrate thieves and thieving politicians. I can name so many things we indulge in that are inconceivable in saner climes. Yet, we envision a working society. Sorry, it can’t work!

*Dr Babajide Ololajulo writes from Abuja

Email: [email protected]