THE GOD OF DARKNESS OF NIGERIA
All hail the God of Darkness of NEPA*Nigeria
Yo
The link between Nigeria and darkness
Only the drastic word can break.
A minute of weak flashes
Then, a thousand hours of groping without light
Article page with promotion of financial support
Wingless fans mock our misery
From roofs without power
The air conditioner coughed and fell silent.
Many unhappy seasons ago
Bankrupt factories feed our hunger
Our laptops run on heat
From our feverish groins.
With the rays of the kind moon
We write the epics of the nation
While libraries and laboratories are suffocating
In the lampless anguish of our academies plunged into darkness.
So wonderfully gifted, we count our blessings.
Halfway through the surgical task
A medieval darkness envelops the theatre
The surgeon's scalpel is swerved past the veins.
Nearby, smelly morgues with their restless doors
In our ultra-modern airports
Darkness encumbers faster
Beyond the speed of light: Blind landing is a risky bet
We announce the welcome to our Blackout Country
II
NEPALAND. Country of blackouts. Hell of power cuts.
Candles. Lanterns. Flashlights,
Antique oil lamps and their yellow peril:
The rooster of our first light has not yet begun to crow
The country of generators and their deafening madness
Where the noise bomb shakes the marble mansions
To its golden bases; an ounce of light
Ten tons of detonating terror
Generators: diesel, gasoline,
To each person his own silent killer.
In a country where noise is the national anthem
In which tribe and language do they differ consistently?
We all have our share of national darkness.
Of the goalkeeper who sweats under the yoke of the nation
To the rich and ruthless whose private greed
It aggravates the public need
Ruler after ruler, from generals with multiple medals
To the high-cap gravediggers of our democratic deception
Bold budgets have been approved to end the national shame
Budgets that never exceed the limit of their bottomless pockets
NEPALAND NEPALAND LEPROLAND
Great Distributor of our national darkness
Our rulers grope and grab in a patriotic frenzy
People stumble and slip on its unlit paths.
NEPA: National Electric Power Authority; now renamed Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
Niyi Osundare, one of Africa's foremost poets and scholars, is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at the University of New Orleans.