Lagos residents cry out over blackout, falling wires

Dwellers of Idowu-Egba in the Isheri area of Lagos State, say they have been plunged into darkness owing to incessant power failure in the community.

The residents lamented that for about two years, they had been having electricity for about two hours in a week, saying the poor service was not commensurate with the “crazy bills” they got monthly.

They added that their lives were at risk as the wooden electric poles in the neighbourhood were decaying while high-tension wires had sagged.

A landlord, Mr. Famisa James, said residents had been frustrated by the problems and urged Ikeja Electric to proffer a lasting solution.

He said, “Ikeja Electric renders poor service in this community. We pay crazy bills without enjoying the service. I have been living in this community for five years. There was never a time we enjoyed electricity here. At times, we won’t have power supply for a whole week. It is a very bad situation that we want urgently addressed. Our poles are also bad and need replacements.”

James, who lives on Adeniran Street, said he became fed up in August 2015, and wrote the company, notifying it that he wanted his power line to be disconnected.

The letter read in part, “In May 2015, all the bills – both outstanding and current – were paid. In June 2015, a bill of N8,319.33 was brought and N5,000 was paid. But in July, a bill of N10,393.30 was brought as current charges for a three-bedroomed flat.

“Please to avoid unnecessary embarrassment and open confrontation, you are hereby informed to disconnect your wires from the pole. Thanks for your always hardship.”

The Vice Chairman of the community development association, Mr. Olufemi Adeosun, said IE had reneged on its promises to improve on the situation in the community.

He said, “The problem has been lingering on for years now. We protested last year at Alausa and they connected us to Idimu supply. The power supply improved a bit then. But they have brought us back to Igando and the supply is now worse. They also promised to give us concrete poles. We applied, but nothing has happened. We bought the wooden poles ourselves and they are rotten. The high-tension wires have started falling on the roofs.”

Another landlord, Pastor Dada Babafemi, said, “They just collect money from us without giving us electricity. The bills are outrageous. They don’t charge us based on what meters read. We only have power supply for two hours in a week and it has been like that for over a year.”

A woman, who sells drinks, Mrs. Olusola Adedeji, said, her business was no longer moving, adding that all her profit was being spent on fuelling the generator she used to make the drinks cold.

“We don’t enjoy the power supply at all. It is generator I use to power my freezer so that I can sell the drinks. It has been very consuming financially. My sale has dropped because I cannot afford to be fuelling the generator all the time,” she said.

An official of Ikeja Electric in charge of the community, who identified himself only as Osho, said the residents had not lodged a formal complaint at the Igando office in respect of the problem.

He said, “The residents have not reported these issues formally. But, allocation has dropped nationwide due to the damaging of petroleum pipelines and we are affected too.

“I resumed in this office just two weeks ago. I will investigate whether that part of Idowu Egba is part of the places I cover and get back to you.”

The official had, however, yet to get back while subsequent calls put across to his line rang out.

The spokesperson for IE, Mr. Aiyeni Akinola, did not pick his calls and had yet to reply to a text message sent to his mobile phone since Friday on the matter.