Residents of Odutan Street in Ketu area of Lagos on Monday stormed the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC)’s office to protest total blackout in the community, as well as what they termed crazy billing for services not enjoyed by them.
The protesters numbering about 2,000 called for urgent intervention of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola in what they described as inhuman treatment by IKEDC, saying its staff kept bringing estimated bills despite being in total blackout for over five months now.
This was just as they lamented that they were to be supplied with prepaid metres almost two years after they put in their application for the facility, despite several promises made to them by the electricity company.
They came with placards of varying inscriptions such as: “Restore our light in Odutan,” “We want pre-paid metres now,” “Say no to billing without light,” “Fashola call IKDC to order,” “Buhari, this is not the change we voted for,” among others.
A resident, Mr. Ayo Badmus, 72, while speaking with newsmen, lamented that the residents were tired of receiving ‘crazy’ bills from the company.
He accused IKEDC of deliberately exploiting them through distribution of ‘crazy bills’, even when they could hardly boast of two hours of electricity supply in a month.
“We are rejecting their bills. At a time when people manage to survive, the IKEDC kept bringing crazy bill. Worse still, they are bringing these bills when we can’t boast of 30 minutes of power supply daily. This is unfair, inhuman and insensitive at this time when the economy is nose-diving. We can’t continue like this,” he said.
Also speaking, another resident, who simply identified himself as Ade, said that the entire Odutan Community had been without power for months, adding that despite IKEDC’s gross inefficiency, they were fond of bringing crazy bills.
“Why will some streets have light and why we will not? This is injustice because we pay bills regularly as others. It’s disheartening that the bills IKEDC is bringing don’t correspond with the power supply in the area.
“We are also not happy with the estimated bills in spite of the blackout. We want the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola to intervene,” he said.
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