Ogun community laments two-year blackout, tackles IBEDC

BY Temitope Aina

Residents and business owners have lamented the two-year blackout being experienced in the Olorunsogo community in the Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.

Speaking with PUNCH Metro on Wednesday, some community members, while lamenting their plight, stated that the blackout has posed asecurity threat to residents in the community.

Our correspondent, who visited the area, observed that most business centres in the community operated with generating sets and solar power.

A business owner who identified himself as Elijah Akin claimed the blackout negatively impacted his business.

he said, “My business has been going down for over two years because of this blackout. I can’t count how many times I have suffered losses in this small business of mine because of this electricity issue.

“I run a cyber cafe, and sometimes it is difficult to get profit, not to mention when I have to operate on a generator daily. A lot of people have left this community because of the light issue, and it is not encouraging the growth of the community at all.”

A motorcycle rider, who identified himself as Tunji, said that  transformer vandals are  to blame for the community’s outage.

He said, “Although they restored the light last month for like three hours and they put off,  since then, we have not had light here.

“I will like to beg the government to please help us with the light issue in this community because it is not favourable for both the young and old not to talk of the business owners in the community,” he concluded.

A resident, Mojisola, claimed the prolonged blackout poses security threats to the community.

“All these thieves come to our community daily, especially at night, because we do not have light, and it is also putting our lives in danger,” she said..

When contacted, the spokesperson for the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, Busolami Tunwase, said the electrical problem will be restored before the end of the week.

“If it is the same Owode, because I know there is a particular Owode they are working on, and I spoke with the technical manager and know they are working on it. They wrote to us that we should disconnect them about last year. It was based on that they were disconnected and reported the matter to the National Electrical Code, and they intervened and told us to restore the light, and it was restored.

“The two years is not correct but right now I am aware that there is a fault, and I have spoken with the technical manager, and they are working on it. The light will be restored today or tomorrow.

“We apologise for the inconvenience and we are glad to say our technical team has been very responsive. Light will be restored to the community,” she said. (Punch)