A Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) official in Bayelsa State has come under heavy fire after claiming that the real issue with electricity supply is not the frequent blackouts, but how residents “use the light.”
In the now-viral interview, the official Comrade Innocent Lord-Douglas, Deputy General Secretary of the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC), said that once power returns, people immediately turn on their freezers, washing machines, pumping machines, and other appliances, consuming in one hour what should last a week.
Netizens have fiercely rejected the explanation with one user calling it “upside down,” arguing: “You give people 1 hour of power after darkness, then blame them for trying to live their normal life in that one hour? That’s not overconsumption, that’s survival.”
Others likened it to “giving someone one cup of water after a week and accusing them of drinking too fast.” Many accused officials of failing at basic service delivery yet still criticizing citizens for how they use power when it finally arrives.
Here are few reactions to the viral interview:
