Dear World, We choose to #lightupnigeria

turenchi: Is Yaradua on Twitter? Will he see #lightupnigeria if it trends?

Admittedly, I am usually the last person to latch onto a trend – peep-toe shoes, oversize handbags reminiscent of those used to carry baby paraphernalia, mobile microblogging, the dance craze that was Yahoozee and the like. But I don’t think I am far behind with this one, except that maybe it took me about 72hours to finally understand it…a thousand years for some internet junkies…but I think I deserve at least a pat on the back…

pyoowata: okay, i get it now… #lightupnigeria

The, at best, epileptic provision of electricity first by NEPA and now PHCN, remains a thorn in the flesh of our nation. Our inability to power our homes, hospitals, businesses and universities cripples our progress and in fact, pushes us backwards. Energy, in these times, is the lifeblood of any independent state. Our collective failure to harness our own resources for the development of Nigeria leaves all of us hopelessly anemic.

abiolaalabi: reuben abati came to test us, we showed our detest, now we gasto protest this NO-LIGHT situation #lightupnigeria

Disparaged by the likes of Abati and other members of generations past who can’t understand our hip-hop and national terms of endearment, Naija youth, (oh, yes, I said it…NAIJA, baby), have decided to press forward to shape a future of their own choosing. Lightupnigeria is a grassroots attempt by our youth to make use of Web 2.0 technologies as a force of change. “Enough is enough,” is the cry of our generation towards a power-less situation we have learned to accept as the Nigerian brand. Through Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and the blogosphere, many are hoping to shed light on our debilitating energy famine. A simple Google search will display the scores of bloggers that have written about Lightupnigeria. Lightupnigeria has also been taken to the streets and as of what I heard from the grapevine, eLDee, yes the Big Boy, himself, is making an appearance on Galaxy TV Entertainment News to say a bit about it. Also, according to the Facebook group leader, a meeting of like minds is scheduled for Friday, July 17 at the Silverbird Galleria in V.I.

GFADA: Abeg mek una #lightupnigeria before I bump my head for darkness again.

At the center of this campaign are the keystrokes, #lightupnigeria, which is part of an effort to draw international attention to this campaign and hopefully ruffle some feathers up there at Aso Rock. #Hashtags were originally designed as a means to track particular topics or discussion streams on Twitter. Reaching a certain threshold of hashtags converts such streams to a Twitter “trend.” Trending has evolved into a means by which to track large-scale phenomenon such as national disasters or political movements similar to the recent Iranian election protests. Nigerian twitterers, naijapulsers, and the like are encouraged to add the the words #lightupnigeria to each of their outgoing messages. From the serious to the not-so-serious,

onimartin: RT @SL419: This guy driving in front o m is such a retard!!! #lightupnigeria and light the bulb inside his brain

…we have responded.

Personally, I am excited, hopeful about Lightupnigeria – though old age threatens to increase my skepticism. As of yet, I am not aware of a centralized website, outside of facebook, for the campaign. This was an amateur mistake that was also initially made by Minister of Information, Dora Akunyili in her “Good People, Great Nation” Nigeria Re-branding campaign. From what I have seen so far, information remains scattered through random blogs, tweets, and facebook pages. But then again, my thinking may be out-of-touch and ignorant of the trend to engage in nebulous, decentralized movements.

Beyond a centralized meeting point, Lightupnigeria could do a bit more in its aesthetics and branding. Harnesss the creativity of our youth. I could easily see the motto of “Enough is Enough,” to something like: “#lightupnigeria so candles can go back to being romantic!“. Even while growing up with NEPA, our youth have been proven their ability to make use of information technology for a variety of purposes…good and bad (…and very bad). Making use of our home-grown creative capital to package the campaign would propel the movement forward. And yes, as shallow as it may seem, a t-shirt or plastic wristband wouldn’t hurt too.

I would personally encourage Lightupnigeria to do more in “taking it to the streets,” as we say in colloquial parlance. Considering how our chronic energy shortages have denied millions of Nigeria access to the internet, it would only be appropriate that other traditional media outlets are also equally employed for the dissemination of information about Lightupnigeria. Refusing complacency and engaging in awareness campaigns are a great first step. Shouting “up up NEPA,” with one breath and then decrying “Never Expect Power Always,” with the next, wasn’t getting us anywhere. So in that regard, I applaud those who are spearheading Lightupnigeria. However, I have not been able to find much on the long-term goals of the campaign beyond Twitter “trending,” and maybe getting a few minutes of shine time on the CNN. Ideally, such a campaign should liaise with other like-minded organizations. It would be amazing if Lightupnigeria could ally itself with organizations that are interested in the responsible use of our natural resources or groups that promote greener technologies.

ugodre: Imagine life without generators, imagine hospitals without power outages, if I ruled d world I’d #lightupNigeria

The prospect of an energy sufficient Nigerian is exciting. For far too long we have accepted perpetual habitation in the Dark Ages as our plight. Stories about the devastating effects of frequent power outages abound like pyoo wata (…I know, shameless plug). Lightupnigeria is a huge step in the right direction and goes further to demonstrate that for this generation of Nigerians, the future is indeed bright.

kenniy: RT @SL419 Im proud that I am part of the generation that CHOSE to #lightupnigeria