Some business owners, traders and residents of Osun State have protested what they described as a sharp drop in the power supply to Osogbo and some other towns and cities in the state, saying the development has negatively affected their means of livelihoods.
It has been observed that Osogbo, which had in the recent past boasted of a stable power supply, is witnessing unstable electricity, a development that has been generating bitter reactions from residents of the state capital.
The epileptic power supply has lingered for more than a month.
It was observed that areas like Ogo-Oluwa, Alekuwodo, Omo-West, Oke-Ayepe, Oke-Baale/Sasa, Ayetoro, Estate, Testing Ground, and Halleluyah were the worst hit by the erratic power supply.
This generated uproar among affected residents as they protested at the palace of Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun recently.
The stakeholders bemoaned the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company for the drop in the power supply, calling for an immediate rectification of anything responsible for it.
To inquire about what might be responsible for the erratic power supply, Oba Olanipekun summoned a stakeholders meeting involving indigenes of the town and officials of the IBEDC and National Control Centre.
The meeting, which was held at Ataoja’s palace, witnessed a large turnout of people who were embittered by the erratic electricity.
The monarch expressed his displeasure with the irregular power supply, calling on the IBEDC to fix whatever was responsible for the poor supply.
Speaking at the meeting, a prominent indigene of the town, Muniru Raji, who is a Special Adviser to the Governor on Political Affairs, berated the IBEDC, accusing the company of sabotage and deliberately reducing the power supply to the state capital.
He accused the IBEDC of sabotage, stating that the company wanted to deliberately destroy the economy of Osogbo.
Raji said, “We donated land and transformers to you (IBEDC) without collecting a dime, if you do not want to incur the wrath of God, do not tamper with the electricity supply in Osogbo.
“The only thing left for Osogbo is (stable) power supply. Our fathers didn’t collect a dime when they dashed the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA).
“Those of you who are Yorubas (among the IBEDC staff) should behave well. Do not allow the electricity supply in Osogbo to slide. It is worrying that the power supply in Osogbo has dropped drastically, please address that. It is like you want to deliberately destroy the economy of the state capital. You want to destroy the only pride of Osogbo.”
However, the IBEDC management at the meeting, through its Regional Head, IBEDC Osun Region, Gabriel Eze, absolved the company of any blame in the unstable power supply, saying it was distributing the available energy to its franchise.
According to the management, several factors not under the company’s control were responsible for the irregular power supply.
Also, in an official statement signed by the Chief Key Accounts Officer of the IBEDC, Johnson Tinuoye, the company maintained that it could not deliberately reduce power supply to its customers, urging residents of the state to exercise patience as the power is improving.
Tinuoye said, “Several factors have contributed to the current state of the power supply within our franchise, resulting in disruptions and inconveniences for residents and businesses.
“One of the primary factors is the low supply of gas to generating companies (Gencos) which has led to a gradual decrease in available generation into the grid. This has significantly reduced the power available on the transmission grid for onward supply to IBEDC, and in turn, greatly hindered our ability to provide power to customers within our franchise namely Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara, and partly in Kogi, Niger, and Ekiti States.
“Secondly, scheduled maintenance activities conducted by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in January and March, 2024 necessitated planned outages in specific areas of our network. While these measures are essential for ensuring the long-term reliability of electricity infrastructure, we recognize the inconvenience they may cause and sincerely apologize for any disruptions experienced by our customers.
“Furthermore, vandalism and theft of electricity infrastructures remain a major issue negatively impacting power supply.
“An example is the unfortunate vandalism of TCN towers in Ogun State in May 2023 which resulted in over seven months of darkness for many of our valued customers.
“At IBEDC we are particularly confronted with the escalating cases of vandalism, with over 40 incidents recorded in 2024 alone. The theft of valuable assets such as transformer oil, cables and aluminum conductors pose a significant challenge to our operations, as communities affected are thrown into extended periods of outage depending on the severity of the act.
“Energy theft through illegal connections, meter bypass, and illicit meters are also major issues affecting the adequate supply of power to customers because they result in revenue losses and liquidity problems for the electricity value chain. We have also noticed an alarming upsurge, with over 1,450 identified cases of energy theft between January and February 2024.
“Payment apathy from customers is a major challenge to adequate supply of power. Unfortunately, across our customer segments, we have different mindsets that electricity is a social service and should not be paid for; some only pay part of the bill, while others don’t pay because they haven’t received their preferred hours of supply.
“Despite these challenges, we remain optimistic that poor supply will soon become a thing of the past as the Honorable Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu has taken urgent steps to address the gas supply issue. On energy theft and vandalism, we are currently partnering with security agencies to reduce this vice.”
