- Say ‘our wives deserting us because we can no longer cater for them’
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
Artisans and traders among other residents of Ife North Local Government Area of Osun State have recounted the frustration they have been going through, owing to epileptic supply of electricity to their communities.
No fewer than six communities in the local government area, including Ipetumodu, Edunabon, Moro, Yakooyo, Asipa and Akinlalu have complained of unsteady electricity supply, and lamented that the development was fast crippling their businesses.
The communities had, last year, suffered months of total blackout, owing to the state of disrepair of their old transformer, 7.5MVA Substation at Moro.
After the transformer developed a fault as a result of overloading, leaders of the communities, including traditional chiefs, cried out to the management of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company and the State Government to assist them in installing a new transformer.
During the period of the blackout, indigenes said the situation had encouraged insecurity, theft and economic paralysis. The affected male indigenes had also disclosed that some of their wives deserted them because they could no longer provide for their daily needs.
One of the traditional Chiefs in Edunabon community, Sunday Olasupo, argued that the blackout deepened the hardship of indigenous people of the communities. He said most men who were breadwinners in their families could no longer cater for their households.
However, in November last year, reprieve came to the communities as the immediate past administration in the state donated a new transformer to them.
About four months after the transformer was installed, residents of the communities, especially artisans and traders who need electricity for their businesses and services, have lamented epileptic power supply, saying should the trend continue, they would go out of business.
They said that various pleas to the authorities of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company had yielded no results as the power provider short-supplied them.
A welder in Ipetumodu who simply identified himself as Bakare Ayinla, said, “The situation is pathetic and worrisome. We are losing our customers on a daily basis because there is no electricity for us to work. The kind of work I do, for instance, cannot be powered by the small generator that I have, so I depend mainly on direct electricity.
“I have been in financial distress since this problem started. It’s so bad that some of my colleagues are already complaining that their wives are leaving them because they couldn’t feed them any longer. The IBEDC should come to our aid.”
Traders, especially those who deal in frozen foods, said they had lost fortunes as their wares got damaged because there was no electricity to keep them frozen.
One of the affected traders, Tinuke Oreola, who sells frozen food, said, “Our economic activities have been paralysed as people using electricity to do their daily work find it very difficult to transact their businesses and this needs urgent attention so that the society will not become desolate. Ife-North has been known for peace but this absence of light has made it to be a lawless society where different people just come into our towns unchallenged at night.
“I sell frozen food business and for four days now, there has not been light. My wares including fish, turkey and meat of all kinds have been damaged. Other artisans like welders, hairdressers, electricians and all sorts of traders are suffering because of the power outage.”
“We have written several letters to the IBEDC even to their main office in Ibadan but nothing has been done. They keep giving us excuses,” she noted.
The Secretary of Ipetumodu Development Union, Kehinde Oyetumbi said IBEDC officials expected them to pay for the electricity they didn’t consume, adding that power supply had not been regular.
He said, “We don’t know how we offended the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company. Electricity supply has not been regular as we want it and it’s affecting the development and economy of our communities.
“When we met IBEDC and complained to them, they said they don’t get enough money from us and that we are telling them that it is when they supply electricity to us that we will be motivated to pay bills. We can’t be paying for darkness. So, they should do something and restore our light and make it permanent.”
