Ekiti community laments one year without electricity

Residents of Omuo-Ekiti, in Ekiti East Local Government Area of the state are lamenting the hardship imposed on them by lack of electricity for over one year.

They said the prolonged blackout has paralysed social and economic activities in the town, thereby making life unbearable to the people.

The community, which is located on the boundary of Ekiti with Ondo and Kogi states, said all efforts to make the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) do something to alleviate the suffering of the people were unsuccessful.

Speaking with our correspondent on the development, a leader in the community and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Diran Adesua, called on the BEDC to restore power to the town and save the businesses of artisans and residents from total collapse.

Adesua said majority of artisans and traders whose jobs depend on electricity have closed their shops to become commercial motorcycle riders as a means of keeping body and soul together.

The situation, according to him, has sparked a mass exodus of youths and school leavers from the community to the state capital, Ado-Ekiti and other cities to eke out a living for themselves.

“We have made several representations to BEDC on this appalling situation in Omuo but our efforts have not yielded any fruit. Our people now depend on generating sets as source of power but fuelling them is expensive and eating deep into our pockets.

Reacting to the development, BEDC spokesman, Mr. Kayode Brown, said the company would look into the complaints but added that “they must provide evidence of payment of electricity bills.”