Bulbs dim. Fans slow. Once, my air-conditioner caught on fire.
February 1, 2015 8:09 AM Subscribe
Lights Out in Nigeria by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [New York Times]
"LAGOS, Nigeria — WE call it light; “electricity” is too sterile a word, and “power” too stiff, for this Nigerian phenomenon that can buoy spirits and smother dreams. Whenever I have been away from home for a while, my first question upon returning is always: “How has light been?” The response, from my gateman, comes in mournful degrees of a head shake. Bad. Very bad.Previously.
This made the rounds in my expat circles today. As I mentioned in the "previously" thread, I'm not a big fan of Adichie's fiction (not for any political reasons -- I just think it's kind of boring), so maybe I came to the op-ed pre-soured, but it rubbed me the wrong way. Like, of course, this is a huge problem, but in a city and country with so much appalling poverty everywhere you turn, it seems weird to write about it for a general audience by leading with 10 paragraphs about how your air conditioner is noisy and how you've been forced to buy *two* generators for yourself. I mean, come on -- cry me a river, and think about the optics before you publish stuff like this. I live under similar very privileged circumstances, and yeah, it's really annoying when the power goes out and the generator doesn't kick in immediately, but it wouldn't occur to me to complain about it at length in a NYT editorial -- even to make an otherwise valid point.
The problem of power here is super-complicated. It's not just the fact that the government owns the transmission network -- there's also a major supply program caused by price controls and labyrinthine economics. Here's an article that's less heart-tugging but more informative on the subject.
posted by eugenen at 8:54 AM on February 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
The problem of power here is super-complicated. It's not just the fact that the government owns the transmission network -- there's also a major supply program caused by price controls and labyrinthine economics. Here's an article that's less heart-tugging but more informative on the subject.
posted by eugenen at 8:54 AM on February 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
eugenen, thanks for your comment. I felt the same way, but never having been to Nigeria, I couldn't really say.
On a practical level - why not solar cells? We even have them at my work-place, in a country where it rains most of the time.
posted by mumimor at 9:26 AM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
On a practical level - why not solar cells? We even have them at my work-place, in a country where it rains most of the time.
posted by mumimor at 9:26 AM on February 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm guessing solar panels are too capital intensive to be that popular, and if they're not that popular, getting people who can work with them is going to cost a fortune.
posted by ambrosen at 2:14 PM on February 1, 2015
posted by ambrosen at 2:14 PM on February 1, 2015
I live under similar very privileged circumstances
Well yeah, me too when I'm at home. Being relatively well-off in Nigeria doesn't insulate you from the massive, bizarre, labyrinthine obstacles to trying to live a half-comfortable life there. Possibly the super-rich - and certain expatriate communities - don't have these problems, but I certainly think they are complex enough, and indicative enough of what it's like to live in such a fucked-up system even with privilege, to be worth the newsprint or bytes or whatever.
Do you think generally middle-class dilemmas aren't worth writing about? I think it's an unreasonable expectation that writers should only write about pre-approved, serious subjects, and I also think criticising a lifestyle piece for not being Serious Social Commentary is...well, regrettably, something I see online a lot.
On solar panels. What with the billions being made from oil, trickling down through several tiers of income; the lack of reliable infrastructure to support manufacture; the remnants of a curiously stagnant bureaucracy; the general attitude of material competitiveness AND the civil unrest (and the corruption of course), solar power doesn't have much chance of getting anywhere unless it can be disguised as some kind of quixotic, ineffective competitor. Maybe there should be an NGO.
It's perfectly alright not to rate Adichie as a writer but then taste is entirely subjective, isn't it? And there are plenty of people who do.
posted by glasseyes at 2:59 AM on February 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Well yeah, me too when I'm at home. Being relatively well-off in Nigeria doesn't insulate you from the massive, bizarre, labyrinthine obstacles to trying to live a half-comfortable life there. Possibly the super-rich - and certain expatriate communities - don't have these problems, but I certainly think they are complex enough, and indicative enough of what it's like to live in such a fucked-up system even with privilege, to be worth the newsprint or bytes or whatever.
Do you think generally middle-class dilemmas aren't worth writing about? I think it's an unreasonable expectation that writers should only write about pre-approved, serious subjects, and I also think criticising a lifestyle piece for not being Serious Social Commentary is...well, regrettably, something I see online a lot.
On solar panels. What with the billions being made from oil, trickling down through several tiers of income; the lack of reliable infrastructure to support manufacture; the remnants of a curiously stagnant bureaucracy; the general attitude of material competitiveness AND the civil unrest (and the corruption of course), solar power doesn't have much chance of getting anywhere unless it can be disguised as some kind of quixotic, ineffective competitor. Maybe there should be an NGO.
It's perfectly alright not to rate Adichie as a writer but then taste is entirely subjective, isn't it? And there are plenty of people who do.
posted by glasseyes at 2:59 AM on February 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
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posted by Tomorrowful at 8:37 AM on February 1, 2015