Residents of Seriki Kajola, widely known as Seriki Oko, in Ifo Local Council, have appealed to the Ogun State government to connect the community to the national grid, bringing to an end five decades without electricity.

They expressed concern that despite being located just 20 kilometres from Lagos State, the community has lived without electricity for more than 50 years.

In what residents describe as a painful irony, the community hosts the Kajola Train Station, Ososun, a major railway infrastructure, yet lacks electricity — a foundation for economic growth, security and quality of life.

Residents said the community has been forgotten in darkness while neighbouring towns enjoy basic amenities that make life more bearable. Speaking on the issue, the Baale of Seriki Oko, Musbaudeen Adebesin, said: “We were born into darkness. Our children are growing up the same way. There is no active transformer, no power supply lines, and no record of electricity being provided at any point in the community’s history.

“This town has existed since 1835, founded by our forefathers. Since its establishment, Seriki Town has always had traditional leadership, and I am proud to be the 14th Baale to be crowned in the history of this community.

“One of the major challenges facing our town is electricity. Although the government provided us with a transformer about 15 years ago, it has never been energised. To date, the transformer remains unconnected to the national grid.”

All our efforts over the years to get it connected have not yielded results. What we see from the government is the transformer alone, without support to make it functional,” he lamented.

He noted that the transformer was provided during the administration of Gbenga Daniel but was never activated, adding that the community had consistently appealed for assistance to connect it without success.

He added: “We are now making renewed efforts. Our previous leaders were elderly and not well educated, which limited their engagement with government processes. We have seen the impact of government in the past, especially in education. The primary school in this town was established in 1955. Before then, our children trekked to Ososun to attend school.

“In 1955, the Action Group government built the first classroom for us, followed by three more classrooms and later two additional ones. The Federal Government later started another building, though it was not completed. These developments show that the government has contributed to our progress before.” Adebesin emphasised that beyond electricity, the lack of potable water and good roads remained serious challenges facing the community.

“Our roads are in bad shape. The only time the road was graded was when I served as vice chairman at the council over 13 years ago, and since then no government has attended to it. As Baale, it was after my coronation that I had the opportunity to engage deeply with the community. Through our collective efforts, we established the Seriki Kajola Community Development Council, and we now have our official certificate. This is one of my major achievements,” he said.

Adebesin, who noted that the population of the community is too large to be left without electricity, appealed to the Rural Electrification Agency, the Ogun State Government and private energy partners to consider extending the national grid to the area.