No, I am not referring per se to the notorious but ubiquitous telecommunication company that majority of Nigerians love to hate somewhat but are obliged to patronise anyway, for the simple reason that it is “everywhere”. In the early days of GSM (global system of mobile communication) in Nigeria, the yellow yellow firm it was that compelled Nigerians to obtain phones for receiving calls only. Having struggled and managed to buy both a handset and Sim card at skyrocketing prices at the time, squeezing out another huge amount at an overpriced tariff of N30 per minute to make calls was burdensome. Remember that at that time a minute’s call was equal to a second.

Nigerians then came up with the ingenious idea of having a GSM majorly for receiving calls which were thankfully free. At the time ‘flashing’ was out of it as you would be charged for it because a second or even a moment’s flash is equivalent to one minute and billed accordingly at N30 per minute. Nigerians were later jolted to learn that they would forfeit their lines if they did not make a call for 90 days. This expectedly angered Nigerians who wondered aloud about how a property they legally acquired with much sweat could be confiscated from them just because they reserved it for receiving calls only. Such was the ‘impunity’ with which ‘Yello Yello everywhere’ exercised its monopoly over Nigerians. Actually, it was a duopoly. But with Econet afraid that its Nigerian partners would outdo them with the famed Nigerian cleverness, it did not quite put its foot on the throttle. And its several name changes did not also help matters. So, ‘Yello Yello’ bestrode the market virtually unchallenged.

And as more players were licensed, yellow, yellow reviewed some of its unfriendly policies. Notwithstanding that it prides itself as having the widest reach, yello yello has hardly initiated any creative voice tariff or data plan of its own. Rather, it is always following or better said, forced to toe the example set by its competitors whether in respect of voice bonus or data bonus.

Given ‘Yello Yello’s legendary ‘unfriendliness’ would you blame if I am pleasantly surprised at MTN Mobile (solar) electricity – Lumos – customer service? They even dash (gift) you electricity for a few extra days. Should you have any issues and they ask their technicians to go resolve it, the technicians (Nigerians they are) do not ask you for ‘kola’ or transport money as are usually the case. Even when you offer it to them out of generosity or appreciation for resolving the challenges, they politely and flatly turn it down.  ‘Madam I am here to solve your problem and to satisfy you’. Your happiness is our happiness”. The technicians on their own even call you to ask whether you are still having any issues. Should you answer in the affirmative they urge you to complain to the customer service first because it has to be logged by the customer service who after a review of your complaints by one of their engineers at the headquarters would send an email, including your name, address and phone number to one of their technicians in that State/town detailing what he should do. I was quite impressed. These are just ordinary Nigerians, not graduates but they have sophisticated smart phones because in the course of their work they have to liaise with their Oga in the headquarters, Abuja.

The first thought that flashed through my mind regarding their attitude to work was reports of Nigerian Policemen (rank and file) behaving excellently and performing exceedingly well when on foreign assignment and falling back to their old corruptive ways of extorting money from motorists when they are back in Nigeria. The argument is that it is the Nigerian environment that corrupts them. But the Lumos technicians are Nigerians, young Nigerians operating in the Nigerian environment and yet toeing the straight path, not soliciting or taking covert or overt gratification even when it is offered in good faith and they are working under the scorching sun.  What then is the magic?  You could point out that the initiators/owners of Lumos are foreigners, that they have foreigners as their overall bosses. But the public face of Lumos is Nigerians. It is Nigerians that you see when you go to MTN shops to buy Lumos solar kits, it is Nigerians that you interact with on their customer car lines, it is Nigerian technicians that come to resolve whatever challenges you encounter and it is Nigerians that these technicians interface with on phone as they set about solving the problem. I am not really aware of where these foreigners are although in truth Lumos was brought to Nigeria by foreigners. Lumos  as I gathered is fundamentally an international organisation that solicits for international funds to make solar energy available to Africa at seemingly subsidized price.

Thus Lumos Nigeria is a 24/7 mobile electricity that partners with MTN Nigeria to provide solar powered electricity for homes and small business/ retail outfit. It started off in some three states and hopes to cover other states when it gets needed funding.  The solar electricity kit which consists of  a home powered station(secured indoor unit), solar panel and two led bulbs costs N20,000 initially although the price has been reduced to N15,000. You buy the solar TV and solar fan (12V) and extra bulbs separately if you so wish. Upon purchase of the solar kit, you register it with your MTN phone number at the MTN office and you subsequently subscribe to day/weeks or months of electricity with your MTN recharge cards. Initially it cost N330 for three days subscription but the tariff has been raised to N660 for three days and N4, 500 for 30 days. Installation cost at first purchase is N2, 000 although it is quite easy as any young man can do it following their manual guide.

At the time I bought the pack last year I did not quite enjoy it as the power signal was showing yellow or red always, meaning that there was insufficient electricity for use. I thought it was the weather because it was the rainy season and hence not sunny. But as the dry season set in the problem still persisted and I had to complain vehemently to them via their customer care. They assured me that they would send a technician to fix the problem within seven days. I asked what was going to happen to my money since I had subscribed for some days and was not able to get enough electricity for those days; they urged me to just wait for their technicians to solve the problem first. To cut the story short, the technicians had to come on three different occasions. First they had to change the power station, at another time, the panel, the panel at another time and the power station again at yet another time. And each of these times, they were compensating me with seven days additional electricity days. At the last time when Patrick J. came, I was given some extra 14 days of solar electricity. Now I have altogether an additional free one month of electricity to the initial 30 days I subscribed for and it is working exceedingly well. Kudos to Lumos Nigeria on this.

IKEANO writes from Lafia  08033077519 vikeano@yahoo.co.uk