Benin City's Intermittent Blackouts May Be Good For You
So, I was in Benin City over the holidays. The ancient city, true to its moniker, has not been in much of a hurry to wow any visitor with rapid developments or things like that since. It is still very much the quiet, laid back, vintage city slow-boiling in a sufficiently evolving urban lifestyle like it has always been.
Perhaps the most striking thing anyone who visits now will notice is the power supple rotation scheme that applies in most areas of the city. Areas like First, Second and Third East Circular Roads, GRA, Sapele Road, Umagaba and environs are on the clock, like many other regions across the city. Power comes in 3-hour shifts. That is, say you have power supply from 12am to 3am, then you'll have a blackout for the next 3 hours it returns again for the next 3 hours and so on.
While this development was greeted with angst by many when it first began about a year ago, the routine has become something everyone has acquiesced to. The city's Power Supplier, Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) has resorted to this rotation scheme to try to meet up with the power demands of the city. Not sure anyone would be eager to give them a pass mark at this rate, as many agree that power supply was considerably better and more constant before BEDC took on the reins.
Assuming you reside in the part of town where the power rotation scheme is running effectively (There are areas not under the scheme at all and either get dismal supply or fairly good but erratic supply), you could use it to your advantage.
I know, I know... Blackouts are never good, duh. Just hear me out, will you?
While it is a universally immutable fact that everyone is better off with stable power supply, we all know that that is a milestone Nigeria has yet to rise to. Usually, power supply is erratic and/or fairly okay in some places and non-existent or terrible in others. But this rotation scheme throws a bit of consistency to the entire mix.
Knowing power will return or be available at a particular time can help you plan your days better.
You can do your laundry and/or press your clothes at a set time and never have to worry about erratic power supply messing that up for you.
You can still preserve stuff in your refrigerator without fear. Three hours isn't long enough time for food or other things in the fridge to go bad.
Unless you're using a Macbook or any other Apple Laptop fitted with long-lasting batteries, your laptop battery will very likely drain out before the three hour blackout timeline elapses. But your phone batteries should be able to hold out much longer than that, so you're in the good there.
Perhaps the most useful thing about the intermittent blackouts in Benin City is the fact that you can use the time to focus on other important things that don't necessarily require electricity to get done. Things like talking and sharing an actual human moment with other people around, reading a book or playing an outdoor game or doing some other rewarding activity.
Not interested in those or still think there's no use to the blackouts? Well, you can set your alarm and go to sleep. 3 hour naps at least twice a day without interruptions can help you meet your sleep quota for the day. Your body will thank you for it.
