How I get 24-Hours of power in Nigeria without a gen or "NEPA"

First of all, this is not a marketing post. I am just excited to share my experience with anyone who is willing to benefit from the joys of uninterrupted clean energy.

Power outages in Nigeria have been the norm for several decades but Nigerians have never gotten used to it and I don't think we will. From ECN (Electricity Corporation of Nigeria) to NEPA (Nigerian Electric Power Authority) to PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria) to the present day privatization, sadly, the power situation hasn't changed. We have given the government fifty-odd years to prove themselves and I think it's high-time we take matters into our own hands.

Fortunately, Nigeria is blessed with  a lot of sunlight all year round due to it's geographical location and since December 2015, when I decided to tap into mother natures blessings, I have had uninterrupted power supply.

In this blog post, I am going to show you how to run on 24-hour of power by leveraging solar panels and energy efficient appliances. I am a big advocate of renewable energy(as you'll see from my blog posts) and I just had to put my money where my mouth was... as they say.

Okay, let's get right into it.

Fascinating Nigeria

I have to say, the minister of Tourism, Culture & National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, did a great job on launching this platform. It's an official guide to all Nigeria has to offer; It's pretty detailed and enjoyable.

Nigerian Food

Carnivals

The web developers also did a fantastic job on the mobile and desktop sites.
Have a look at the site here

Ceremonies

How We Lost Our Capacity to Innovate in Nigeria #TEDx #Ofili

It's amazing how we Nigerians hardly innovate. The speaker in the video below, Okechukwu Ofili, stated something quite profound and apparent about Nigeria, which is the fact that we Nigerians suffer from something he calls, "the foreign comparison issue". This is were we tend to compare our status and accomplishments with developed countries which somehow, mentally dampens our capacity; which shouldn't be. Seeing other countries constantly innovating and developing should instinctively cajole us to aim higher but unfortunately, that isn't the case.

Ofili also gave some statistics which I found embarrassing (being a Nigerian) but enlightening at the same time.
Between 2000 and 2011:

• 450,000 patents were registered in Japan (population 120 Million)
• 15,000 patents registered in Israel (population 10 million)
• 1500 patents registered in South Africa (40 Million)
• 17 patents registered in Nigeria (population 150 million) 

X_X

Ofili, is an engineer, author, artist and public speaker (he probably has more up his sleeves) who is well known for his books and well-entertaining blog.
I found this talk uplifting, inspiring and I will definitely start innovating more... hope you will too.

Get free Nigerian books on your mobile phone - Okadabooks

Okadabooks allows anyone in Nigeria(for now), pay for books with mobile credit(most of the books are free anyway) instead of using credit cards which have not been widely adopted in the country yet. They have been able to get more that 7500 downloads in the first 2 months and are still only on the Android mobile platform! 
Nice.

Saying I am Impressed would be an understatement. I get very excited at the slightest sense of progress in my beloved country, Nigeria. This is a very good app that will revolutionize the way we read and study, not only in Africa but world-wide. The user interface is very good and it's easy to use.

• 90% of the books on the app are free
• Secondary school students can get access to past WAEC and JAMB questions (I would've died for this during my time... *sigh). 
• You can become an author and publish your own books.

Anyway, enough ranting from my ends. You can get the app on Google Play here

Watch an interview with the founder of Okadabooks, Mr. Ofili, below..

Video: Nigerian girls power generator with waste

This is an update to a post I made earlier about the girls who used urine to power a generator. Inspiring :')
Watch the video below

Hello food - Nigerian food delivery Service

Hello Food - Order food in Nigeria from 170 RESTAURANTS

Staying in the office for lunch? Tired of the same takeaways? Want to share a meal with your family at home? Do not hesitate anymore, it has never been so easy to order take-out food. At Hellofood we want to simplify your life. No more cooking or cleaning-up: with Hellofood, get your food delivered wherever you want, and enjoy a variety of cuisines and prices with just a few simple clicks.

On Hellofood type your city and your living area, and choose the meals and beverages you prefer on our online menus (local food, Chinese food, pizzas…). Checkout your order and enjoy different payment methods. We take care of everything else! We contact the restaurant, and make sure your order is delivered where you asked. Receive your sms of confirmation, sit back, relax and wait for piping hot food to be conveniently delivered to you!

Thanks to Hellofood discover great food every day, and enjoy steaming home food conveniently delivered to your home or office.   Visit Hello Food here>> http://www.hellofood.com.ng/index.htm

Nigerian youths innovating with technology. Yay naija! [must watch]

Interesting video showcasing robotic and mobile applications being developed by Nigerians in Yaba Lagos.
I love seeing Nigerians being productive and making moves. We complain too much biko.

 Here is a link to some apps that have been launched: -  
-Efiko (http://www.efiko.com.ng/ ) is a mobile self-help tool for students

- Tiket Mobile http://www.tiketmobile.com/  which helps you get information and buy bus tickets for across Lagos. (dope!!)

- Budgit - a website that tries to simplify the complex Nigerian budget ( found here: http://www.yourbudgit.com/ ) (Impressive)

 Read more on the whole concept of the "innovative hub" below....

Urine powered Generator

Maker Faire Africa is an annual pan-African event which hosts a community of innovative 'makers' from around Africa. This year, in Lagos Nigeria, an unusual product was showcased which presumably attracted alot of attention; and I'm not surprised it did.

"A Urine powered generator created by 4 girls namely; Duro-Aina Adebola (14), Akindele Abiola (14), Faleke Oluwatoyin (14) and Bello Eniola (15).  

1 Liter of urine gives you 6 hours of electricity.

Laptop and iPad skins from Nigeria- by Mode

It's so exciting to see how the creative aspect of Nigeria is blooming. From clothes to bags, to shoes and now this brilliant product.

I stumbled on their blog and I just had to promote it.

To buy and see more, click here

Underwater cables bring faster internet to West Africa

Stretching some 7,000 kilometres along the West African coastline, a submarine fibre-optic cable emerges off the coast of Nigeria to help bridge the digital divide in the continent.Dubbed Main One Cable, the system links West Africa with Europe, bringing ultra-fast broadband in the region. It runs from Seixal in Portugal through Accra in Ghana to Lagos in Nigeria and branches out in Morocco, Canary Islands, Senegal, and Ivory Coast. -CNN

Read More

Health is Wealth - WaterAid Nigeria

If you would like to join Water Aid in helping local Nigerian communities and also other countries in Africa gain access to clean water and cleaner environments, here > Water Aid

Watch how a couple of Nigerian communities benefited from Water Aid's sanitation initiative.

Happy New Year!

Nigerian Builds Car Using Locally Sourced Parts

Engineer Okpere built a car using locally sourced parts! He could be Nigeria's own Henry Ford if he is rightly supported. Nigerians are hard working people but we hardly invest our talents and thoughts in positive things. We thank God for people like Engineer Okpere. I hope he gets what he needs to be able to build a successful industry.

Watch Video Below...

Jide Odukoya - Nigerian Photographer

Jide Odukoya runs a very interesting blog which depicts Nigeria in diverse ways. He has a lot of amazing shots which keeps me glued every time and he also opened my eyes to aspects of Nigeria I had no idea about.

www.JideOdukoya.com/blog

Pure Water

Street Kids

View more pictures below>>>

Bill Gate Supports Nigeria in Eradicating Polio

God bless you Bill.

Bill Gates Visits Nigeria, Signs MoU On Polio Eradication

How Much Energy Do Your Home Appliances Use? VISIUALISATION

With this data visualisation tool, you can see how much power each of your appliances use. You can also see how much it costs ($) and how much it consumes in gallons of gas.

Clicking on various appliances turns them on or off. An overall energy consumption rate is calculated in the lower right corner of the tool.

TRY IT OUT 

A hair dryer uses more power than a room air conditioner. O_o