Ibadan business owners, residents lament outage, fuel scarcity
The Oyo State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has berated Governor Seyi Makinde for allowing the entire state to be thrown into total darkness, following government’s closure of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) offices on Wednesday.
Chairman of the party, Mr. Ajiboye Isaac Omodewu, condemned the government for closing the IBEDC offices instead of finding a means to settle over N450 million bills the administration owes the distribution company.
Omodewu lambasted the Oyo State government for allowing the entire state to be thrown into 24 hours darkness as a result of its inefficiency and poor management of the state’s resources.
He said the development whereby IBEDC’s management claimed that the government owed it N450 million electricity bills in the last three years was an indication of the poor administrative efficiency of Governor Makinde and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government.
Omodewu said in the last 24 hours, major businesses in Oyo had been paralysed, hospitals in comatose and artisans groaning due to lack of electricity.
These, according to him, have escalated the rate of crime in the last few hours where hoodlums and men of the underworld took advantage of the situation to inflict pains and series of robberies on innocent citizens.
The party urged the Federal Government to wade into the matter, as IBEDC is one of the revenue generation bases of the government, which ought not to have been clamped down just like that by a state government, and if at all, not even the one that is owing the company.
MEANWHILE, residents and business owners in Ibadan yesterday lamented the energy crises bedevilling the city following the power blackout that has enveloped the city for about two days and fuel scarcity in many filling stations in the city.
Leader of Ibadan Business Hub, Iyalode Temitope Adelakun, who spoke on the development, said:” As it is now, businesses are struggling, and with the intended hike, things will become tougher, raw materials will become more expensive and businesses would be forced to hike their prices which in turn will make consumers cut down on their consumption.
“The resultant effect is that businesses will begin to sell way less than they used to. This is not encouraging for business growth goals at all.
“If the incidence of yesterday is true in any form, then it is wrong that the people should have to suffer the power tussle between the government and IBEDC.”
