Ogun communities lament blackout, tackle IBEDC

Landlords and residents around Magboro and Ibafo communities, in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, have lamented one-week blackout caused by lack of power supply in the communities.

The power outage, which had been going on since last Thursday, plunged streets in Magboro and Ibafo areas into darkness and made several residents and business owners resort to using generators and solar inverters to power their homes and workplaces.

A resident in the Sparklight Estate area of Magboro, who identified himself simply as John for personal reasons, said the power outage threw people into hardship.

He said, “The power outage has caused stress and disruption in our daily routine. Most of us depend on generators to pump water for domestic uses and some of us have been unable to make use of house appliances such as pressing irons.”

In the Gasline area of Magboro, residents and business owners, while lamenting the lack of power supply, said their productivity had reduced, adding that the prevailing fuel scarcity also compounded their chances of getting fuel to power their generators.

Before the current blackout, the Magboro area was getting rationed power supply but the current situation left both the residents and business owners with no choice but to make use of generators.

A resident, who gave his name simply as Tony for security reasons, said, “The current scarcity of petrol in the state has worsened the situation as it has become difficult for us to power our pumping machines to get water to enable us to engage in household activities like bathing, washing and cooking.”

At filling stations, our correspondents observed as vehicles maintained a long queue to purchase fuel.

People with jerrycans were also seen positioning them on a single lane, as they waited for their turn to purchase fuel from attendants who charged N200 extra to fill each jerrycan.

“I had to pay the extra N200 to buy fuel into my jerrycan so as to power the pumping machine at my house because getting water for my family to wash clothes is difficult. We were initially making use of rainwater to take our bath,” a source in the Gasline area said.

Another resident in the Oke-Afa area of Magboro, who gave her name simply as Joke for security reasons, said the electricity distribution company supplying power in the area refused to give any explanation for the blackout.

She said, “If I remember correctly, the last time we had power was in the early hours of Friday. Since then, it has been a total blackout. Getting water has been tough and the recent rainfall has been the saving grace.

“The situation is crazy and it is more insulting to members of the community because no explanation was given for the blackout.

“IBEDC should please work promptly on whatever caused the issue before we go deaf due to the sound from generators.”

The spokesperson for the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, Busolami Tunwase, blamed the blackout on low allocation from the Transmission Company of Nigeria.

She said, “Low allocation from TCN, Ogun, is a protracted case as you know. What is supplied to Ogun is way less than what is needed. Both TCN and IBEDC are working to ensure the areas affected get better supply. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this.”

She, however, noted that the fall of electricity poles due to the flooding was a new development.

(Punch)