Residents of Irese, Aaye and Ikota towns in Ifedore Local Government Area of Ondo state have threatened to shut down the office of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) in Akure over the continued power outage in the area.
The three towns had been in ‘total blackout’ since February 2022; paralysing the economic, commercial, and social activities of residents in the communities.
With the 10-month-old blackout, many business owners in the three affected towns have shut down their shops while artisans who depend on electricity to survive their trades have continued to relocate from the communities.
In a protest letter addressed to the Regional Manager of the BEDC, Akure, the residents complained vehemently that the power outage has heightened insecurity in the three towns.
According to the residents, several efforts to ensure the electricity company address their plight have been without luck.
The letter, signed by the Olurese of Irese land, Oba Ahmed Destiny Saka, on behalf of the three towns, stated that the residents have no other choice than to stage a mass protest to express their grievances at the BEDC in Akure.
“After exploiting all avenues of amity to bring sanity to our relationship by reinstalling electrify supply to our communities with no success in view, we have no choice but to organise a procession spanning protests to let the world know of the parlous state of electricity supply to our towns,” the letter read in part.
But the spokesperson of the BEDC, Mr. Micheal Barnabas, blamed the blackout to the activities of vandals but said power would be restored in the area before Christmas, saying the electricity company has been working round the clock to ensure power is restore in the three communities.
He said “I can assure you that power will be restored in the communities before Christmas. The power outage is due to the activities of vandals and we have taken some measures to check the development.
“We have been working to restore power in the area and very soon, at least before Christmas, the residents will smile, they should just exercise some little patient”.
