Securing a private apartment was an excitement for Yusuf Soliu, a student of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS). If not for anything, he now has a place to live away from the crowded university hall of residence. But did he know the joy would be short-lived?
Soliu’s rented apartment was in Gidan Yaro – one of the communities in the outskirts of the university – plagued by blackout for months. The 25-year-old didn’t know about this until after he moved his belongings into the new room in April. He almost regretted making a move.
“It was one of my brothers who stays around the area that revealed to me that the power supply hadn’t been restored for more than a month. I lost hope immediately because the chance of its being restored seems zilch,” said Soliu, a student of Accounting.
“I can’t believe that a community dominated by students is left in darkness for such a long period,” he added.
Gidan Yaro, a community in Wammako Local Government Area of Sokoto State, Northwest, Nigeria, had been experiencing a total blackout since February 2023.
The community was disconnected from the power source due to an outstanding payment of N3.3 million owed the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC), some student representatives who visited the electricity company told this Reporter.
According to the Energy Progress Report, Nigeria has the lowest access to electricity globally, with about 92 million persons out of the country’s 200 million population lacking access to power.
Ibrahim Maccido, the community spokesperson, told Tribune CampusXtra how KEDC removed their fuse from the transformer in February. He said the electricity company claimed that the entire community owed them N3.3 million which the community found surprising.
“As far as I know, we used to pay our fees at due time,” he said.
While contiguous communities like Dundaye, who were also affected by the blackout, got their light restored after complaints at the KEDC office, Gidan Yaro refused to go because the community felt it was denigrating and against their human rights.
“We Gidan Yaro community did not go anywhere because before they disconnected our light in February, there was not a single month that we didn’t pay our money,” Maccido said.
Energy, source of living: How we defied blackout in Gidan Yaro — Student’s Reps
Abdulwasiu Olokooba, a final-year student of Law, who chaired a 24-man committee on the movement to restore electricity in the community, told this reporter that as a student, he realized there’s a problem and the best thing to do is proffer a solution.
“I know how difficult it is going to be, living without electricity. Even the generator, which happens to be the alternative, is not something to write home about. Before, a liter of petroleum was sold at the rate of 180 naira, but now, the removal of subsidy has caused the price to skyrocket. What we were buying around ₦180 to ₦200 has now increased to over 600 naira,” he said.
He stressed further that he, alongside others, reached out to the KEDC and the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to inquire about the processes towards restoring electricity back in Gidan Yaro, adding that they ended up paying the agreed 10 percent of the total debts owed by the community before their fuse was returned.
“We reached the compromise and agreed to pay 10 percent of the money owed which is 330,000 naira.
“But they told us our fees will increase in subsequent bills to cover up the deficiencies,” Olokooba expressed
Meanwhile, to address this problem, Olokooba had earlier reached out to all students’ private hostels within the community, summoned their representatives, and devised plans to gather money for the settlement.
According to him, the students committee implored all the two hundred and twenty-two rooms of twelve hostels in the community to pay an equal amount of N1,500 which was used to settle the 10 percent required of them.
Abdulraheem Abubakar, one of the students’ committee, while speaking with Tribune CampusXtra, recounted challenges the committee faced in attempting to solve the issue of blackout for the whole of Gidn Yaro community. He said they almost turned to beggars as some students did not want to cooperate.
“It gets to some points when I felt like we should even leave the light unrestored because when we get to some people they will be asking us to come back,” Abubakar recalled.
Aremu Sulyman, a student of Agriculture and one of the beneficiaries of the committee’s successful effort, said the restoration of electricity has aided his essential needs.
“Almost all my handouts are in PDF and if there is no light, I won’t have anything to read. Another aspect is that I use it for ironing my clothes which is also very important to me, because it makes me look more confident and comfortable. In short, we can now use light for our basic needs,” Aremu said with happiness written all over his face.
However, several calls and messages were sent to KEDC by this reporter for reactions over the agreement with the students committee but the company is yet to respond as of the time of filing this report.
Dauda Musbau is a campus journalist from UDUS. He can be reached via +2347033236993 or oneehm1612@gmail.com .
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then