Last week had been gloomy for Texans as they experienced a power outage resulting in a blackout in the state. The cause of this blackout was attributed to the dangerous weather condition which froze the state’s wind turbines and damaged the electrical grid infrastructure.
The individuals in the affected areas awoke a day after the incident only to discover that icicles had formed from kitchen and bathroom faucets; some had to use snow to flush the toilet. They had never experienced such magnitude of cold and now in the absence of electricity, there was no source of warmth. During this outage, some lives were lost and many others contracted pneumonia and other cold-related ailments. Thankfully, however, the power was restored on Saturday and the people were exultant.
This brings me to the bone of contention. Our fellow Nigerians who reside in Texas also faced this challenge, though, it was not a strange occurrence for them given the fact that back home in Nigeria, the issue of a power outage is a norm and we are accustomed to waiting for when it will be restored so we can chant our melodious “UP NEPA!”. Now the only difference between the blackout in these two states is that Texans almost froze to death as a result of the incidence, whereas in Nigeria, heat would almost roast us up while we wait till the individuals responsible did something about it.
When power was eventually restored in some parts, it was said that Nigerians triumphantly screamed “UP NEPA!”, which left Texans in awe. Funny because they do not understand our situation.