Public outrage has followed a viral video showing the Deputy General Secretary of Nigeria’s SSAEAC, Lord-Douglas, telling a reporter that sudden appliance use after blackouts consumes a week’s power in an hour, tripping supply and resulting in brief allocations.
He also said Nigeria struggles with just 4,300 MW of electricity generation for a population of about 200 million, affected by grid collapses, vandalism and gas shortages, particularly in Bayelsa served by PHED.
Reactions online are divided, with many describing the comments as victim-blaming amid systemic failures, while others argue they highlight why electricity bills remain high despite persistent outages.
Click the link to watch the video.
Here are the reactions:
SonOfGod (@KalamusSignals): “Your bring light for 1 hour , if I don’t have water I shouldn’t pump it , my ac when be say cockroach done build estate make I no on am pursue them , just 1/2 hours I shouldn’t iron for my next outing , omo the level foolishness and stupidity in some people is wilding.”
Vickee (@chiasokarisam): “Is it your energy? Are we not paying for it? 😭😭😭😭😭”
Tammy (@AudruisMichael): “So, he expects that people who pay for the light should not use their house hold appliances, even they shouldn’t fetch water? Or what is he saying? There is no excuse for that. If I know I will only get light once in a blue moon, surely I will use it to the fullest.”
Doinz Lounge & BAR (@bar…): “So this is your excuses for keeping your city in darkness?! Foolish & wicked politicians everywhere 😒😒😒”
Ibrahim Musa (@goastwritersp…): “I don’t even know what to say to this. Transparency is importan, use prepaid, everybody will always argue that their consumption is fair.”
Big Manchi (@_bigmanchi): “What’s his business with how they consume electricity ? God I still dey ask wetin my ancestors do you way make I enter Nigeria”
oghale.O (@bosas38): “Nonsense, people pay their bills, light should be constant and if it is constant people won’t overload it for that one hour. This is just gaslight. Make electricity constant, every state should generate their own electricity and install meter gradual payment”
Benediction Adenuga: “Can someone check him if his okay up in the brain, what is wrong with you people providing 24 hours electricity, but you can bring bill of 24hours. God please blow the trumpet”
Duru Bond (@Bond_not_ja…): “This man is simply making an argument for the cost of electricity and NOT justifying its absense, but look at the comments fgs! Wether you consume 100kwh in 1 week or 1 day, the cost is still the same. He never said you should have only 100kwh. I have constantly screamed about the comprehension deficiency we have in this country, especially amongst so called educated youth. Is it just anger/frustration that hinders the brain function or their brains aren’t actually capable of understanding things?”
Mr Prolific (@mr__prolific): “Everyone that is in power position in Nigeria always feel like they are doing the people a favor. It’s a shame that this is where Nigeria democracy is still at since 1960. Instead of serving the people. They start to feel like god like they are helping the people. It’s a shame‼️”
CHI$OM (Hates APC): “Bro there’s no hellfire elsewhere Nigeria is the actual hellfire Bro are we supposed to be rationing electricity in big 2026? An oil producing country?? Wth? Am I living in a simulation? 🤦🏾♀️💔💔😒”
Youth in Process (@Youthi…): “They blame your fridge for their failure to build a grid. It’s a systemic scam: they starve us of power, then gaslight us for using it. If the system isn’t fed with accountability, soon we’ll be paying for the very darkness they provide.”
Last B (@Ony1nyechi): “How is that the people’s fault? If the electricity is constant, people will even be turning off these appliances on their own. Don’t try to gaslight us you rotten tomato”
DANJAY DANJUMA (@Danj…): “See mumu explanation Abeg… were you expecting me not to put on my freezers and my pumping machine before? Why am I paying for the light in the first place?”
Habu Sadeik (@HabuSadeik): “His answer is correct but it has been misconstrued to be a justification. I don’t think he is justifying long outage but providing explanation behind consumption, lol”
Queen Esther Solomon (@Q…): “Some Older people no just get sense at all So if light come make we sit down dey look am Abi?? Currently there’s light in my house so we dey use am so everything wey we fit do cus we fit no see am for 3 weeks”
Ramseybee007 (@Abiol…): “South Africa has a generating capacity of 60000MW compared to the meagre 4000MW generated in Nigeria. Just see the difference. Generate enough for Nigerians and stop complaining how Nigerians consume light.”