Blackout: Ondo youths threaten to shut Benin-Lagos expressway tomorrow

FOLLOWING the continued blackout in the South Senatorial district of Ondo State, youths from the four local government areas, have threatened showdown with the Federal and State government for turning deaf ears on the persistent power outage in the area.

The youth from the area under the auspices of the Ondo South Advancement and Consultative Forum, handed this threat on Sunday, threatened to close down the Benin-Lagos expressway in protest against the non-supply of electricity to the communities in the Ondo South Senatorial District of the state.

The youths who condemned the attitude of the subsequent government in the state to the blackout stated that thousands of residents of the communities in the five out of six local government areas in the senatorial district had been living in darkness for over 10 years.

They noted that the development had affected the social and economic activities of the people of the area, saying armed robbers have been taking the advantage of darkness in the area to rob people of their valuables.

The group, which is the umbrella body of the various associations in the senatorial district lamented that both federal and state governments had neglected the oil-producing areas of the state in terms of infrastructural development

Speaking during a Press Conference in Akure, Ondo State capital, the Secretary-General of the group, Kunle Ajayi, said thousands of youths would be mobilised on Tuesday, August 1, 2018, promising to lock up the road to press home their demand.

Ajayi said the protest which would take place along the Benin /Ore expressway, was to call the attention of the governments to the issue, noting all previous efforts by the people of the area had failed to yield any positive result.

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He said, ” That day (August 1) there is not going to be movement on Benin/Ore/Lagos Expressway. All members of the association have decided that by August 1, 2018, we are having a pilot action at Ore where we will be grounding the Lagos/Benin Expressway.

“We are making a civic resolution that BEDC (Benin Electricity Distribution Company) should with immediate effect restore light to all the nooks and crannies of Ondo South Senatorial District. Enough of this darkness.

“We want to call on all politicians in Ondo South to stop politicising the darkness of our people. It is going to be a different ball game as we go to 2019 election, and that is why we youths under these groups have discovered that most politicians are using this light issue to get elected into offices without doing anything on the needs of the people.

“We want to posit that the privatization of the power sector is massively anti-people, anti-development and anti-progress.”

The youths also called on President Muhammadu Buhari, the state governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu to wade into the matter and restore electricity supply in the area.