Edo communities petition Reps over power outage

Residents of Ughiole and Ubiane communities, in Etsako West Local Council of Edo State, yesterday, petitioned the House of Representatives over the lack of power supply to their areas for nine months.

The petition to the Chairman, House Committee on Public Petitions, Esosa Iyawe, is titled, ‘Public petition against the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) for failing to resolve the prolonged power outage in Ughiole and Ubiane communities.’

The petition, signed by Adamu Deco Suleman, and made available to journalists in Benin, noted that the blackout stems from the vandalism of the step-down infrastructure that powers over five transformers, perpetrated by unknown individuals nine months ago.

Suleman said: “When the incident happened, the community leaders alerted the staff and management of BEDC in the Auchi Business District, but the response from BEDC has been characterised by indifference and neglect.”

According to him, they have been left to endure the hardships of living without electricity, as neither the BEDC management nor the government intervention is forthcoming.

He disclosed that on their part, the affected communities established a fundraising committee to mobilise funds for the repair or replacement of the damaged infrastructure, which fell short of the amount needed due to inflation and fluctuating exchange rates.

He added that the estimated cost to procure a new step-down exceeds N8 million.

He called on the House Committee on Public Petition to investigate the matter and compel BEDC to replace the step-down to restore power to over 20,000 residents and numerous businesses in the area.