The vegetable soup we cooked yesterday eveningācarefully planned to last us for both yesterday and todayāhas gone bad overnight. A pot of soup prepared around 6pm, with so much hope that at least for two days, we wouldnāt have to worry about cooking again. A soup that cost us 15,000 naira to put together, in a time when every single naira counts.
And just like that, itās all wasted.
Not because we were careless. Not because we didnāt plan well. But because there was no power. No light to preserve what we struggled to make. Everything gone, just like that.
EEDC (firstpower), you have truly finished me.
Itās painful. Itās frustrating. Itās exhausting to keep trying in a system that keeps failing you at the most basic level. Food is not a luxury. Electricity is not a privilege. These are simple, essential things that should make life easier, yet here we areālosing hard-earned money and meals overnight.
Nigeria, what have I done to deserve this?
Is it wrong to simply exist here? To work hard, plan responsibly, and expect that at least the little you have wonāt be taken from you like this?
This one hurts deeply.
Ā© Ifeanyi Onyeocha