BABATUNDE OLADEPO 
I sat in my parents’ living room in Surulere for 45 minutes one Sunday afternoon in 2023, rehearsing the words in my head while my mum served jollof rice and my dad watched Channels TV. I had been working as an electrical engineer with a federal agency for three years, installing and inspecting power systems … Read more
I have been servicing and installing power systems across Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt for over 8 years. And if there is one complaint I hear more than any other from Nigerians right now, it is this: “My generator is drinking fuel like water.” With petrol sitting above ₦1,200 per litre, running a generator for even … Read more
I have been installing, repairing, and advising Nigerians on power solutions for over 8 years. And the single most common question I get from first-time buyers, especially students, remote workers, and apartment dwellers, is this: “Should I buy a solar generator, a solar inverter, or a full solar system?” The confusion is understandable. These three terms … Read more
I have installed over 200 small solar systems across Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt apartments. And one thing I can tell you from experience is this: you do not need ₦500,000 or ₦1 million to start enjoying solar power in Nigeria. If you are a student, remote worker, or content creator living in a self-contain … Read more
I have been installing and servicing inverter systems across Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt for years. And in all that time, there is one thing that has stayed consistent: most Nigerians do not replace their inverter battery until it has already completely failed them, usually at 11pm, in the middle of a blackout, with a … Read more
You bought the battery. The technician installed it. Everything worked fine for the first few weeks. Then slowly, the backup time started shrinking. What used to last four hours began struggling to hold two. By month ten, your neighbours had power on inverter and you were already pricing a replacement. This is not a bad … Read more
You walk into the conference room. The seats are filled with your manager, two senior colleagues, the head of department, and someone from another team who has been in the industry longer than you have been working. Everyone is older. Everyone seems certain of something. You pull out your chair, open your notepad, and quietly … Read more
I got the email on a Tuesday afternoon. A client in the UK, someone I had been writing for over four months, told me she was ending our contract. Her reason was not the quality of my work. She said: “I sometimes struggle to understand your updates and am not always sure what you are … Read more
On Monday, March 10, I stepped onto a danfo at Ojuelegba heading to Ikeja for a client meeting. The conductor said “₦700.” I almost laughed. Not because it was funny. Because that same trip cost ₦400 in February. And ₦250 this time last year. I did not laugh. I paid. I squeezed into the back … Read more
I bought 1GB of data on MTN at 9:03 AM on a Monday. By 1:47 PM, it was gone. Four hours and forty-four minutes. I had not streamed a single video. I had not downloaded anything large. I was just working. Google Docs. WhatsApp. Instagram. A 25-minute Zoom call. Normal freelancer stuff. That evening, I … Read more