ACROSS the 36 states of the federation, October 1, 2015 was a day set aside to celebrate Nigeria’s independence from Britain. In the South Senatorial District of Ondo State, however, it was an orchestra of lamentation over perpetual blackout, as youths, mainly from the coastal area, protested the deplorable state of electricity in their communities.

The protest culminated in arrest by the police of about 15 leaders of the youths, who had mobilised the people under the aegis of the National Revolutionary Vanguard (NRV). There were also several agitations by the Pelupelu Group pressurizing the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) to restore power in the area. Pelupelu consists of: traditional rulers in Ikale land, religious leaders, pressure groups, artisans and youth bodies, like Save Ikale Youth Vanguard (SIYV) and Ondo South Consultative Forum (OSCF).

The outage in the six LGAs that make up the South Senatorial District and economic hub of the state since December 2014 was reportedly caused by trees that fell on power lines in Odigbo Local Government Area (LGA), where the sub-station that feeds the entire coastal area is located. The affected LGAs are: Okitipupa, Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo, Odigbo, Irele, Ese-Odo and Ilaje. Also hit is the coastal line and mandate area of OSOPADEC (Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission), which in the past 10 years has been in perpetual darkness.

On that fateful day, the NRV mobilised youths who brandished placards and chanted anti-government songs. A rally was billed to take off from Okitipupa to Ore, a distance of about 37km. The placards bore inscriptions like: Osibodun Restore Our Light! Reverse the Privatisation Of NEPA Now! Enough Is Enough! People Of The South Are Suffering! 10 Months Of Blackout Is Hell! No To Blackout In Our Land! Nigeria At 55, No Light For 10 Months!

The youths blamed authorities of the BEDC under the leadership of Mrs. Funke Osibodun for the blackout, accusing the Company of exploitation. They also accused government representatives from the area of indifference, crying that the problem had seriously impeded their economic activities.

The Ondo South Consultative Forum had on August 5, 2015 written a petition to the chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) regretting with “dismay the systematic and consistent abandonment of core values in the area of electricity in all the towns and villages that form the LGAs in the District.” It was signed by 27 prominent people from the District: six paramount rulers; four National Assembly members; nine State Assembly members; six LGA chairmen; and Chief Press Secretary to Governor Mimiko, Eni Akinsola.

According to OSCF: “We scrutinised the bills tendered by BEDC and discovered several irregularities, jumbled figures and duplications of names and addresses. Indeed, BEDC bills clearly showed disjointed claims, bogus, fraudulent and unverifiable amounts. The attention of BEDC was drawn to our observations. This made BEDC reverse itself and unilaterally reduce the dubious bills to over N700,000,000. Yet, there were inaccuracies, which BEDC did not want to discuss any longer.”

OSCF complained that Igbotako, Iju-Odo, Igbodigo, Ayeka Okunmo, Igodan and Ode Aye towns in Okitipupa LGA have had blackout about four to eight years, while Ajagba, Iyansan, Akotogbo and other communities have experienced the same for seven years.

The petition reveals that Ese-Odo LGA has suffered total blackout for five years; Ilaje LGA and many of its riverine communities have not enjoyed electricity since 2006; Araromi-Obu and Ore in Odigbo LGA have been in total blackout for eight and three years, respectively.

And in Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo LGA: “Even a project by BEDC to beef-up electricity supply in Ile-Oluji has not been completed for a long time. Aside from the economic waste, this disconnection endangers the health and agricultural life of the inhabitants; the environment is constantly polluted as a result of fumes and wastes from several electricity generators. Some of these generators are old and worn. Indeed, the resultant noise pollution is better imagined than experienced,” reads the petition.

According to the National Coordinator of NRV, Sayo Onukun, “Our agitation boils down to the blackout, which we have been experiencing here for the past one year and the infrastructural abandonment in the Southern Senatorial District of Ondo State, which has incapacitated our people. For the past year, we have not been experiencing electricity here, since the distributive aspect of power electricity supply was privatised. The woman in charge of this, Mrs. Funke Osinbodun, said the area owes the electricity company the sum of N1.9bn, and that as a result, it disengaged us from the national grid.”

Deji Oyewunmi, another youth leader and indigene of Erinje town, said leaders from the District have failed the people, and have become unresponsive to the predicaments of the electorate that voted them to power.

At a forum organised by the BEDC ‎to sensitise customers and provide information on the Company’s proposed tariff review on August 26, 2015, the Chief State Head of BEDC, Mr. Edgar Ernest, said the blackout was because ‎the communities owe over N1.9bn.

At the event, after BEDC had appeared before the state House of Assembly and declared that it would “isolate the chaff from the grain over the N1.9bn debts,” Edgar vowed that the indebted communities would remain in darkness until ‎they settled their debt. He said the money was part of accumulated debt incurred from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). He regretted that nothing has been heard from a committee set up by the Assembly to rectify the charges.

The BEDC boss said the communities refused to pay the debt since BEDC took control of the power sector. “We divided the ‎debt to two: pre-privatisation and post-privatisation and asked the communities to pay, even if it is only the post-privatisation they could afford. But ‎they did not pay. And we decided to cut their supply until they pay their debt. If you don’t pay your bill, how do you want the company to survive? We will not restore their light until they pay us. Any company that makes N1.9bn monthly is a big company, let alone losing such amount,” Edgar said.

Some people who spoke to The Guardian said but for timely intervention, a Tuesday, August 18, 2015 protest might have marked the end of BEDC operations in the area, given the wanton destruction that looked set to happen. The President of Save Ikale Youth Vanguard (SIYV), Yemi Fafoluyi, confirmed the prompt intervention of Governor Mimiko who held a meeting with the army of youths from the area and dissuaded them from their course of action.

Fafoluyi told The Guardian that the governor promised the delegates from the District that he would wade into the matter and discuss with President Muhammadu Buhari with a view to finding a lasting solutions to the problem.

SIYV leader and State Assembly candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP) in the last election, Fafoluyi, said OSCF, a larger organisation with spread across all the six LGAs, heeded the persuasion of Mimiko and decided to await the outcome of the meeting with the President.

He stressed that the protest was apolitical and spurred by the general welfare of people in the District, and that since the state government was looking into the issue, there was no need for further escalation. The SIYV President flayed the BEDC management, describing the company as capitalist, and servicing choice areas while neglecting others.

Following the meeting with Governor Mimiko, there were allegations in some quarters that the caretaker chairman of Okitipupa LGA, Mr. Solomon Bitire, and other delegates parted with the sum of N50m, to stop the August 18 protest. Bitire, however, said the allegation is the work of “mischievous elements trying to rub mud on the name of the chairman, in an attempt to score cheap political point.”

Asserting his innocence and lamenting politicization of the plight of the people by some powerful politicians in the state, he noted that NRV members said among other things: “The chairman collected N20m; the religious leaders collected N5m and that the Kabiyesis collected N5m each,” adding: “These mischievous elements have been boasting around that a seating Senator is backing them. What they intend to achieve with the protest are: looting, disruption of vehicular movement and creation of problems in the District.”

He disclosed that the meeting with the governor yielded several results, with BEDC being summoned to the state Assembly. “At the level of Okitipupa, a committee has been constituted, headed by Elder S.A. Aderehinwo, former Marketing Director of NEPA. We agreed that after analysis we will sit down again to discuss whatever we arrived at from the analysis,” he said.

He said it was agreed that the billing system should be done individually rather than the collective analysis put forward by the Company. “After all the above has been said, we deliberated on how payment of outstanding debts would be made. We agreed that it should be spread over a period of time.”

According to Bitire, the August 18 protest was suspended, so as to consolidate strongly on the successful consultation earlier made with BEDC and the arms of government.

The Iyaloja of Igbekebo town, headquarters of Ese-Odo LGA, Chief Mrs. Oyekanmi Florence, said since the former caretaker chairman of the LGA, Festus Dabo, was appointed in December 2013, the entire coastal communities in Apoi and Arogbo land have been without electricity.

Oyekanmi said the Apoi National Movement had met several times with OSOPADEC over the matter without finding headway. She complained of a mass exodus to other LGAs, as people search for better power supply.

Oba Lebi, the Olofun of Irele, an ancient town in Irele LGA, said he sent for BEDC staff five times but they refused to honour his call. According to the aged monarch, the last time the town had electricity was December 2014, even as he complained that he spent N3,000 daily on diesel, to power his generator.

The Jegun of Idepe-Okitipupa, Oba Michael Obatuga, flayed BEDC for what he described as inhumane actions and bringing bills to the people after many months of outage and subsequent withdrawal of the Company’s staff from the Districts to other parts of the state. He questioned why the area should be serviced from Osogbo, when the Omotosho Integrated Power Plant was closer.

HRM Oba Isaac Idepefo, the Majuwa of Ilutitun Moribodo Kingdom, revealed that the Pelupelu Group held several meetings with the executive director of the new substation in Omotosho, so that Ikale people and environs could benefit from the mega power source on their land, but to no avail. He said for the past two years, Ilutitun and neighbouring communities in Okitipupa LGA have not had electricity.

The Bishop of the Anglican Communion, Diocese on the Coast, Rt. Rev. Joshua Ogunele, said the total blackout has a multiplier effect. According to him, the cover of darkness has led to rise in crime. He said those that are worse hit are artisans, who can no longer ply their trade, and that some people, especially youths, unable to withstand the situation, have turned to stealing and other vices.

A young Juju music singer from Irele LGA, Ademola Ogunsusi (aka Demola Suzi), released an album in August 2015, titled: ‘Okunkun E Ye Wa’ (‘We don’t deserve darkness’), where he voiced the pains of people in the affected LGAs and implored the government and concerned authorities to intervene speedily. The title of his album went on to become the maxim for the NRV protests on October 1, 2015.

In the first week of August, the Ondo State House of Assembly (ODHA) summoned BEDC to a public hearing on the power problem and demanded answers on the N1.9bn debt claim. Officials of BEDC that appeared before the Assembly included: Abu Ejoor (Executive Director, Commercial Department); Ernest Edgar (Chief State Head, Ondo and Ekiti States); Lucky Ajomoto (Chief Legal Officer) and Yohanna Auta (Business Manager, Ondo Business Unit). Others were: Mrs. Iyabo Adefemi, Ojo Ayeni, Damola Danmoye, the Business Managers of Akure, Igbara-Oke and Owo Business Units, respectively, and Kayode Brown, the Public Relations Officer of Ondo and Ekiti States.

During the session, lawmakers at the sitting expressed dissatisfaction with poor services, erratic power supply and inappropriate billing, which they called “crazy bills and paying for darkness.”

The Minority Leader, Musa Mukaila (Owo Constituency II) said: “The people cannot be made to pay for services not rendered…the company has been defrauding the general public for a long time; the people do not owe BEDC.” Mukaila said, rather, it was the power company that has to pay the people for tariff charged without rendering justifiable services.

Fasogbon Akinyele (representing Odigbo II) refuted the N1.9bn debt profile, asking how the Company arrived at the staggering figure, since the District has been without power in the past eight months. The lawmaker, who revealed that he stays in Ore town and was conversant with the activities of the people in the commercial hub, accused BEDC staff of conniving with rogues, adding that they should be held responsible for the vandalisation of the Company’s equipment in the area.

Without mincing words, the Assembly member representing the people of Okitipupa Constituency I, Mr. Sola Ebiwonjumi, said BEDC staff had come to the floor of the House to deceive the people of the state and feed them with lies. Ebiwonjumi, alongside other lawmakers like Olusegun Ajimatokin, said the company had failed the people and accused it of selective charges and failure to distribute prepaid metres in the coastal area.

On his part, Malachi Coker, reacting to the asset and debt acquisition by BEDC after the privatisation of the sector in 2013, decried arbitrary charges meted to the people, saying BEDC cannot substantiate the debt profile of the area. Coker (representing Ilaje II) said the company did not include Ilaje in its list of debtors during a first meeting with the community, but surprisingly did so in a second meeting. He disclosed that the entire Ilaje LGA had not had electricity since 2006, and was surprised at how the Company arrived at the figure without providing any service in the past nine years.

The Speaker of the House, Jumoke Akindele, decried the eight-months ordeal of people of the District and a N241m debt claim said to have been owed by Okitipupa town alone. She flayed the insensitivity of the Company, saying: “You cannot continue to do business in this land, if you do not care what becomes of the people.”

Jumoke, who hails from Okitipupa, said as representatives of the people, the ugly situation has brought psychological pain and loss of credibility to the lawmakers. She added that if the House members had spoken harshly to them, it was because they were under pressure from their people, whom they had often dissuaded from taking the laws into their hands.

“Your story in Ondo State is that of failure: you have failed us 80 per cent. You are taking us for a ride; you are taking us for granted,” the Speaker said, condemning the collective retributive system of depriving the entire area of power.

At the House, the BEDC Chief State Head, in charge of Ondo and Ekiti States, Mr. Ernest Edgar, noted that some in the communities “believe power is free.” He explained that theft and vandalisation of BEDC equipment by the communities foisted a lot of difficulties on the smooth operation of the company. The BEDC chief noted that the safety of the Company’s workers is paramount, and that was why staff were asked to leave the affected areas.

Following the Assembly’s deliberations with the Executive Director, Commercial BEDC, Mr. Abu Ejoor, a compromise was struck. On the N1.9bn debt, Ejoor said the Company would set in place a machinery to separate chaff from grains. A six-man committee was consequently instituted to resolve the power crisis in the District and improve supply in Ondo State. It comprised: Ajimatokin Olusegun (from Irele); Akindiose Siji (from Ondo East); Musa Mukaila (Owo II); Ernest Edgar; Yohanna Auta; and Iyabo Adefemi.

Speaking with reporters, Ejoor said the ‘chaffs’ the committee would separate from the ‘grains’ represent the “crazy bills,” arbitrary tariffs and frivolous debt profile of N1.9bn, which would be critically examined by the committee.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Public Utilities, Bamidele Oleyelogun, told newsmen: “Today’s meeting is very fruitful, and we gave them our own mandate that they should restore electricity in the district, and they agreed.” He assured people of the District that they would have supply as soon as possible.

The Manager of Akure Business Unit (BEDC) and member of the committee, Mrs. Iyabo Obafemi, complained weeks after the meeting, BEDC was still waiting for the Assembly members to bring their report.

Despite the assurances from Oleyelogun, ODHA and BEDC, people of the District celebrated Christmas in darkness. The Guardian learnt through a BEDC source that people of the District have finalised their own part of the agreement reached and were still waiting for Ondo State Government to fulfill its part.

In a telephone conversation, the caretaker chairman of Okitipupa, Mr. Solomon Bitire, said the BEDC boss assured him that electricity would be fixed before Christmas. According to Bitire, the electricity Company said only Odigbo LGA would have electricity. Okitipupa and environs would have supply after damaged equipment has been repaired.

“To my absolute dismay, there was neither electricity in any council in the south during Christmas nor any BEDC staff on site in Okitipupa to fix the fallen poles and cables. It is darkness as usual, but there will still be light soon,” he said with optimism.

When The Guardian visited Okitipupa LGA and neighbouring communities, many electricity poles had fallen, while weeds had overtaken transformers bases.

The State Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Adeyinka Fasiu, recently reported the arrests of 20 suspected vandals and the recovery of 16 prepaid metres, and 330 metres of BEDC cables, among others items, in the District.