With Joke Adeniyi-Jackson
The plight of the people of Sooto area, Pakata, Ilorin, Kwara State is best imagined. The area has been plunged into darkness for the past six months. The hot weather has made the community a hell of a place to live in at a time. The problem is not unconnected to a faulty transformer, which has defied efforts by the community to address the problem .
This situation has posed untold hardship to residents of the area and thus affected their standard of living. Noise pollution has become a common decimal at night time as those who could afford it put on power generating sets as alternative to supply electricity to their homes.
This development undoubtedly exposes the community to criminals who may want to operate under cover of darkness.
Artisans operating in the area are daily running out of businesses because of the energy challenge. Some of them have dumped their skilled art for other enterprises less dependant on electricity.
Several efforts by the community to get government attention for the provision of transformer as proved abortive and as such they have resigned to fate.
The residents of the community heaved sigh of relief three weeks ago when they sighted officials Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) working on the electrical installation. But their joy was short lived as power was not restored to the area. The people were told that their transformer had been vandalised. The distribution company allegedly demanded money from the community to fix the transformer for the people to enjoy power supply again.
This development also throws up the lingering problem power installation vandalisation in Kwara State. The vandalisation of cable, which is a sad narrative has continued unabated as many communities in the state, have been affected by activities of cable thieves.
The situation is more disturbing as no assistance seems to come from the government or the electricity distribution company. A source at the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) said the disco does not have provision for vandalised electricity installations. It is believed that those destroying and stealing cables could not do so without connivance of technical experts possibly officials of electricity distribution companies because vandalising a transformer requires technical know -how beyond the competence of a layman.
It is disheartening that it is happening at a time the people have continued to grapple with persistent power outages and unreliable electricity supply. Like earlier mentioned, Aside the problem of power supply to affected areas, there are also attendant socio-economic challenges. The socio-economic implication of vandalism is colossal, such as insecurity as criminals are known to operate under covers of darkness, and adverse effect on economic activities with the blackout paralysing commercial and industrial activities.
There is therefore, the need for practical solutions to the menace. One way out is to identify buyers of these stolen items. If there are no buyers, there will be no sellers. The ugly trend persists because of the existence of ‘market’ for stolen items, hence the need to rout out all those who patronise vandals. This could be achieved through involvement of traders’ associations. Power installation equipment are not items that are sold everywhere, thereby it should be easy fishing out those abetting the vandals.
Vandalism, no doubt is a cankerworm, which is destroying the power sector, it is therefore pertinent for government to take serious measures against criminals who are hell-bent on sabotaging effort at achieving steady and improved power supply. It behooves security agencies to apprehend the robbers and bring them to justice.
On their part, host communities should provide assistance, intelligence and information to the security agencies whenever they notice these criminalities. Residents have to be vigilant by keeping a eye on equipment within their neighbourhood, apprehend anybody caught tampering with or removing any item from a power transformer. Similarly, any suspicious movement around power supply transformers, especially at odd hours, should be reported to the nearest police station or IBEDC offices. Resident should see the power installations as a property that should be guarded. In this regard, vigilante groups should live up to their responsibility. All hands must be on deck to stop the menace. There is also the need for the electricity distribution company to enlighten the public through the media on the effect of vandalism.
If this trend is allowed to persist residents would continue to expend huge sums of money to replace stolen or repair damaged equipment in order to enjoy power supply.
Nonetheless, Sooto is a community that houses scores of people, if power supply is restored in the area, economic activity will be enhanced and so also the standard of living of the people.
