Just as a toothless molar deprives one of the enjoyment of ripe kolanuts (to quote a Yoruba proverb), so is the irregularity of energy denying many organizations (in Nigeria especially) the opportunity to maximize the benefits inherent inthe (new) technology.

Computers require some form of energy to power it. Thetype of energy that could - at least for now - be sourced only from electricityand allied powers. Unfortunately, the energy situation in Nigeria has gone to such a sordid level that people had never been experienced before. For days, citizens - especially in the south - pray for electricity supply as grassland farmers pray for rain during drought.

The Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), the only organization authorized by government to generate and distribute electricity, lately develops a habit of supplying its customers electricity for few hours in several days. Not only that, such supply comes mostly in the dead of the night and goes before daybreak. So rampant has this practice become that many have cultivated the habit of going to bed early with a view to waking up at night when light comes so as to do some works!

In a recent piece entitled Addressing Nigeria's brain drain, a British journalist, Hugh Levinson, writes about his encounter with some Nigerian scientists who are getting frustrated as a result of lack of regular electricity supply. "Dr Peace Babalola is one frustrated scientist." He writes. "At her lab in Nigeria, she just wants to get on with her research into drugs to combat endemic local diseases like malaria. But things are not easy. "It is a real sacrifice. It is patriotism," she says of her work. She can't afford to buy enzymes. Her lab is missing a critical machine. Most frustratingly, the power supply is unreliable. The electricity can stop unexpectedly for several hours at a time - which can ruin experiments, damage sensitive equipment and destroy refrigerated samples. There's this vacuum in your life that you want to feel fulfillment in. And there's no fulfillment."

The situation is such that one finds him or herself expending so much - in human energy, finance, emotion etc - on things that should be routine. Revelations coming out of the ongoing investigations by the House of Representatives probing the lack of electricity in the country despite the expenditure of over $16 billion by the last administration (of Obasanjo) underscores Nigerians' misfortune in this respect.

This present write-up took days to be put together. Light went off when it was first started. Then the generating system developed faults when it was brought in as a substitute. The first problem was fuel which became scarce as a result of the independent oil marketers' inability to import fuel. Their inability was predicated on the national oil company - Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC - owing them about $10 billion. When a way out was found round that, the capacitor of the generating set got burnt. When that was fixed, diode said it was its own turn. By the time we overcame the challenge of electricity generating set, our computer systems needed attention because the fluctuating power used on them had its own toll!

Thus, tasks that are taken for granted in other climes are big challenges in Nigeria. How challenging these are could beimagined if one realizes that those (Nigerian organizations etc) who want to utilize the Kabissa tech have their basic preoccupations - other than searching for energy for their computers.

But then, why is ingenuity part of human attributes? Nigerian ngos, cbos, csos etc should regard the energy problem as a jungle they have to pass through on their way to the wide, deep and rich honeycomb. In so far as the downtrodden for whom they focus their primary attention suffer this lack of electricity - thus suffer alot of health and economic deprivations - activists should consider this as yet another of the challenges they have to confront with determination. Just as a lifeline came in form of Internet capacity building and visibility almost miraculously, their persistence and genuine efforts may place in their hands a wand that can make this matrix that modern humans can not do without.

JareAjayi is of the African Agency for an enhanced Socio-Ethics and Traditional Order (ASETO), Ibadan, Nigeria