Living Off The Grid

Tí e bá dìbò fún mi, màá fún yín ní 'ná

 literally translate; if you vote for me I shall give you electricity.

Access to electricity is often taken for granted in todays world.

In Saki, one of the major towns in Oyo State South West Nigeria, sometimes babies are  born in the dark.

Every four years, electricity is used as a political tool by politicians to canvass for votes. 

Nurses use mobile phones to perform deliveries at night. In the markets, women vendors sell under paraffin lights, bakers cook their bread under torch lights. Solar panels are a luxury for a few, even though they have become more and more used by small businesses.

For many decades, this community of over 500,000 inhabitants live with just few hours of electricity a week. It affects schooling, business development and health of the people, as much as as it increases the cost of living and incite rural exode.

A transformer was once given to this community but lack of cables have made it useless and it sits there , in the middle of the town like a monument for a long gone promises.

Living Off The Grid is part of a series of documentary photographs which are aiming to capture the stark realities, untold struggles, and inspiring resilience of communities grappling with basic needs in Nigeria; electricity, health care, water and education.

2023

Supported by StoryMi Academy.