The "Power Bank Minister" – Why Nigeria isn't laughing

 (We're just tired)

"A photograph is circulating. It appears to show the Minister of Power, during an official function, using a power bank to charge his phone.

Nigerians have reacted with the usual memes and satire. But beneath the jokes lies something deeper than mockery. It’s exhaustion.

Let me be perfectly clear: This is not an attack on the man in the picture.

Meetings run long. Phone batteries die. I am typing this on a laptop that is currently charging via a UPS because the power just blinked. The act itself is mundane.

However, the symbolism is not.

When the man in charge of the national grid is visibly reliant on the same backup solutions as the rest of us, it ceases to be a personal moment and becomes a public metaphor.

We are told:

✅ Generation is up.

✅ Tariffs reflect improved service.

✅ The grid is stabilizing.

Yet, the most reliable electron in that room didn't come from a turbine; it came from a lithium-ion battery made in China.

This image resonates not because it is funny, but because it is familiar.

· It’s the hospital running a C-section on a generator.

· It’s the student reading by a rechargeable lamp.

· It’s the small business owner spending more on diesel than on rent.

Nigerians have built a parallel economy of survival: Inverters. Generators. Power banks. We don't do this by choice; we do it because the alternative is darkness.

The Legal Reality Check:

To be fair, policy reforms take time. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither is a stable national grid. Perhaps the Minister was simply between meetings, and his phone was dying. That is a normal human experience.

But the question Nigerians are asking is this:

Why does the "normal human experience" in Nigeria involve constantly living in backup mode?

We are the most resilient people on earth. We have to be. We innovate, adapt, and survive despite the system, not because of it.

But resilience should not be the government's long-term plan. We cannot power a $1 trillion economy on generators and power banks.

Over to you: When you saw this photo, what was your immediate reaction? (Be honest.)"

---Ogbeni musings ®