Aggrieved youths from the four local governments – Afijio, Atiba, Oyo-East and Oyo-West – that constitute Oyo Federal Constituency in Oyo State have threatened to, henceforth, chase away with charms officials of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) who make an attempt to disconnect their electricity.
The youth, under the aegis of Oyo Vanguard for Justice and
Development, at a meeting held in Oyo town, said until
power generation and distribution improves, climbing of electric poles with ladders to disconnect in any part of the metropolis is forbidden.
Addressing reporters at the end of the meeting, Acting Chairman of the Vanguard, Comrade Olorunnisola Olawore, stated that the action became imperative, following damages without compensation incurred by electricity consumers arising from months of power outage in the metropolis.
Olawore explained that “it is sad to note that in spite
of psychological turmoil being inflicted on consumers as a result of perpetual black-out, IBEDC has not only considered it unnecessary to apologise as a matter of courtesy, but still have the effrontery to give out estimated billings.
“We are not a terrorist group but a movement passionately in dire need of progress and development of the metropolis. How did you expect electricity consumers to react? For over three months, the metropolis has been in total darkness. Despite that, IBEDC officials besiege every house with “crazy billings”, not even minding the damages and trauma, let alone consider it worthwhile to even show concern for those seriously affected by the on-going black-out. The situation had adversely affected socio-economic lives of the
teeming populace.
“We do not want to be involved in violence because
we are an elitist group. But endurance has a limit. Mass disconnection of electricity would no longer be tolerated.
“Electricity consumers lament that they are rather paying more for darkness than light. Nigeria’s power situation has in the last couple of months attained a worrisome dimension, raising questions on the country’s recent emergence as the 26th biggest economy in the world. Distribution companies are daily designing ingenious means to make consumers pay for electricity not supplied”.
A survey conducted by our correspondent within the metropolis revealed that on the average, residents only have about 20 minutes of electricity supply in a week, while some areas have gone without
power for about two to three months.
Some of the residents called for the cancellation of the privatisation
of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria(PHCN), saying that the new owners have not displayed adequate capacity and capability to tackle the country’s power situation.
“We were expecting that the new owners would in the first months give Nigerians hope. But to my surprise, they have failed to change anything. They complained that the situation was so bad, as if they were not aware of this before they bought the assets. We have no light for months, yet IBEDC keeps bringing crazy bills to our houses. If the private hands are effective, so to say, we don’t expect such
things to happen.”
However, IBEDC’s Brand and Communication Manager, Mrs Angela Olanrewaju, in a radio interview, attributed the outage to vandalisation of gas pipelines by Niger Delta Avengers.
While also blaming the problem on lack of foresight, pro-activeness and proper planning by past administrations on generation and distribution which resulted in systems collapse, Olanrewaju praised the initiatives, programmes and policy of the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration on Power, which she referred to as “long term solution
to the lingering energy problem in the country”.
