No fewer than 200 communities in Ibafemi-Owode Local Government in Ogun State took to the streets on Thursday to express their displeasure over prolonged power outages and unfair treatment by the Electricity Distribution Company in their locality.
The residents in the communities expressed their grievances in a peaceful protest and press briefing well-organised by the amalgamated communities of over 200 Community Development Associations under the aegis of the four Area Community Development Committees (CDCs) of Adesan, Mowe, Ogunrun, Abaren, and Eguu.
Some of the community leaders who spoke during the protest included the Baale of Adesan, Chief Tajudeen Adesanolu, Chief Bamidele Nasiru, Chairman, Adesan CDC, Mr Gafaru Adeyemi, and others.
They expressed their displeasure to IBEDC (Mowe Business District) for the erratic, irregular, and inequitable supply of electricity in Adesan, Ogunrun, Abaren, Eguu, and Mowe, raising questions as to why some other sections of Mowe are enjoying a fair advantage over others. The communities lamented the inability of IBEDC to supply them with regular electricity.
They described the treatment by the disco as an injustice, despite the fact that the residents of the communities were responsible for the purchase of cable, electric poles, and transformers in the area.
They noted that their inability to get regular power supply has further subjected them to abject poverty, pointing out that many of them have abandoned their trades due to this, in addition to the fact that they could no longer get water supply.
They threatened that nobody in the communities would henceforth pay high estimated bills by the Discos until they got regular power supply and prepaid metres.
One of the residents said the least bill from IBEDC was N15,000 monthly, despite less than a 13-hour supply of power throughout December 2023. The residents lamented that their businesses have been paralysed due to the poor and irregular power supply.
“Initially, we used to have one day on and one day off, and we were complaining when it was constant, unlike now that we cannot predict when we will have light, they said.
Efforts to get the management of IBEDC, Mowe District, to speak about the issue raised proved abortive, as the official contacted through phone calls and text messages by the Nigerian Tribune refused to pick up his calls or respond to the message.
Also, Chief Narisu and Adeyemi said that all efforts in the past to discuss with IBEDC management in Mowe, Shagamu, Abeokuta, and Ibadan did not yield any fruitful results.
In a protest tagged ” Enough is enough,” the residents were seen with placards with various inscriptions, such as “Enough of darkness; without light, life is meaningless; Adesan needs light; IBDCC gives us light; we need prepaid metres,” among others.
Speaking further, Chief Tajudeen Adesanolu said the communities were not pleased with the inequitable way the Disco was treating the residents.
“They will give neighbouring communities electricity but have denied us. What is our sin? We don’t have light; we don’t have roads,” he said, calling on the state government to intervene.
Also, the Amuludun of Igbein, Chief Bamidele Nasiru, explained that the residents did not gather to fight but to face reality on the ground.
According to him, when there’s no light, there won’t be security, blaming the electricity distribution company in the locality for the unfair treatment received by the communities.
“You gave 24 hours of electricity to the Chinese within the locality but denied Nigerians the same benefits, and you are bold to come to our communities to disconnect light whereas we are the ones that bought the cables, poles, oil, and transformers,” he said.
He appealed to the Minister of Power, Bayo Adelabu, and President Bola Tinubu to come to the assistance of residents in the communities.
Chairman of Adesan CDC, Mr Gafaru Adeyemi, said that the time has come to demand a better electricity supply and a fair deal from IBEDC, pointing out that the communities could no longer tolerate poor electricity service in the areas.
He decried the lack of interest by the disco in investing in equipment, infrastructure, and manpower, adding that the company lacked good faith in the discharge of its contractual duties of distributing regular, efficient, and equitable power supply to all sections of the communities.
He also decried what he referred to as an ” unjust, unfair, and utterly injustable billing system, saying that the IBEDC regime of estimated billing remains the worst.
He warned that no bill should be distributed in any of the communities until there’s a substantial, significantly improved, and efficient power supply.
“Our communities have also received instructions from our leadership that all electricity consumers, at this very moment, must stop any form of payment forthwith until marked improvement is noticed from the present requirement of 13 hours of supply in a month being distributed at the moment,” Adeyemi said.