Hundreds of residents of checking Point area, Ilorin, Kwara State on Thursday staged a peaceful protest over five months power outage.
The protesters, who marched to the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), Otte Service Unit under the Baboko Business Office, displayed placards with different inscriptions that reflected their grievances
Some inscriptions on the placards read , ‘Stop blackout in Checking Point community; ‘Companies in our community are folding up; ‘Save our souls,’ ‘We want urgent solution.’
Speaking to Pilot Business on the development, Secretary of the community, Mr. Olushola Gbajumo and a landlord in the community, Mr . Ayanniyi Oluyemi, disclosed that residents had contributed N17m “for purchase and installation of a transformer in the community.”
They further disclosed that officials of the IBEDC had approved the wiring and installation of the transformer, but lamented that the electricity is yet to be restored to the community.
Gbajumo said , “We have not had power supply for about five months. Some areas in our community have become hideouts for thieves, armed robbers and other criminals .
“We do not know why IBEDC is frustrating us. We paid for a transformer, which was brought here. About 1,000 households contributed N 17,000 each,” he added.
According to him, the community has had meetings with IBEDC committee handling the issue, adding that the effort has not yielded positive results.
“The IBEDC officials here told us that people higher than them were calling the shots and that there was nothing they could do about it
“They have come up to five times to see the transformer and the wiring that we did . They said everything was okay . We do not know why they are delaying in restoring power . We want to get to the root of the matter,” he further said.
Addressing the protesters, the Commercial Manager, IBEDC, Otte Service Unit, Baboko Business Office , Ilorin, Mrs. Sherifat Alege, pleaded for patience, saying that the issue was being addressed.
