Protesters from Ondo South Senatorial District stormed the state capital, Akure, protesting over the failure of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) to restore electricity in the region despite the inauguration of the sub-station in the area.
The protesters alleged sabotage against BEDC officials towards the restoration of electricity to the region after 14 years of total blackout.
It will be recalled that the Federal Government last May inaugurated a power substation with a 132 kV transmission line and 132/33 kV transformers in the state.
But the protesters claimed that the communities in the area which include Okitipupa, Ilaje, Irele, Odigbo, and Ese-Odo, had been without power supply despite the installation of the power station.
Armed with placards of various inscriptions, the angry protesters accused BEDC of deceiving the state government and Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa into believing that power would be restored in the areas
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, the Olu of Igbokoda, Oba Oladimeji Afolabi Odidiomo, disclosed that light had not been restored in the area since the inauguration of the substation, saying residents of the area could no longer tolerate the sabotage by the BEDC.
The monarch said, “We are protesting to let the ondo state government know that BEDC has succeeded in deceiving them that there is light in the Southern Senatorial District. Out of the five local governments in the South, there is not a single one with electricity.
“We have been battling for years to say that BEDC should give us light, but they said they are waiting for the substation that was being built in Erinje before they would give us it, even when there are other routes that they could use.
“But they insisted on using Erinje. But Erinje is now live, and up to now, there is no electricity.
“The moment the place was commissioned, BEDC went to town to say, Oh, they have restored light to the area, but up to today, there is no light anywhere.
“And actually, there are about three local governments that there are no poles linking them to anywhere, and there is no way they could have light.
“Ilaje and Okitipupa local governments seem to have some edge; even when they bring light several times, what they bring is just 200 kilowatts, when there are 64,000 kilowatts in Erinje substation, and the 200 kilowatts are not even up to four or five houses.
“So we want the government to know that for the 11 years that BEDC has taken over as a disco, they have not given us light for one day, and we cannot continue that way.
“We want the government to cancel the licence of BEDC over that area completely; we don’t want that. Since they have denied us electricity deliberately for 11 years, their thinking is that that area is not viable. So there is nothing anybody can do; they won’t do anything. The little repairs that were done to our infrastructure were done by NDDC, not even BEDC.
“Now that there is electricity in Erinje, BEDC will go around homes to tell people to go and contribute money for poles, for the cables that will need to do the stringing, and for the repairs of their transformers. We feel that this is illegal, and this is unfair.
“We found out that most of the transformers are vandalised. When we did a joint enumeration before Erinje came on board, we discovered that 95 per cent of the infrastructure was damaged.
“We have the records. Joint enumeration by BEDC and the community. In that area, 95% of the transformers and poles were damaged, and they said they did not have the money to do it.
“So even when they said they were commissioning in Erinje, we were shouting at them, How do you commission in Erinje if you have not done any repairs? They said, Oh, don’t worry; up to today, nothing has been done. They want the people to continue to fold their arms. No.
“The second thing that we want is that, since the Ondo state government now has the power to licence independent electricity distribution companies, we want an independent electricity company to be given to that region, if possible, to give us light. Because that is the concern we have. The new law says that each of the DISCOs should register some disco for the purposes of the states.
“It expired last week. Up until today, Disco did not register any, which is a way of showing their flagrant disobedience to the law to circumvent their responsibility of giving the people light. The third thing we are asking for is that the Ondo state government should allow for proper competition.
“I am sure that the governor told everybody that there is light, and the government must have believed that there is light. If we didn’t do all this, a lot of people in Akure would think we have light, but there is no light anywhere.
“You know what they did? When BEDC was going to bring light the first day, they put light in the governor’s house. They put the light in the house of the engineer who built the Erinja substation.
“But the truth is that they deliberately repaired a transformer around the governor’s house, energised it, and sent the light there. In all other areas where the light could go, they got it off, up until today. In order to seal my mouth, they sent a metre to my house.
In his reaction, the Special Adviser to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa on Energy, Johnson Alabi, said, “Their grievances are that there is no power in most parts of the Southern Senatorial District and that since the commissioning of the Erinje Substation, it’s only a few people that are able to enjoy light, if at all there is.
“Because of that, they are asking that, because BEDC has not shown its presence in that area for over 11 years of their existence, the government should intervene by bringing in another set of people that can distribute power to them.
“But we have succeeded in appealing to them. Actually, we thank them for not taking the law into their own hands. It is good. A peaceful demonstration is part of their rights. And they have demonstrated that in good faith.
“They have come; we have had them. and we are not going to sleep over it. We are not taking it very lightly.
“We are going to sit down as a team and discuss the way forward. As a matter of fact, we also know that very soon we are going to invite stakeholders to a meeting, where they will be called upon to come and express their grievances or what have you. So, that is the position of the government at this moment.
“We have been trying to monitor. About two weeks ago, we had a delegation of people from the Ondo State Electricity Regulatory Bureau and Ondo State Power Company.
“We sent them to that end to find out how power has been distributed and how effective they have been. The report we got was not too palatable. But then, we believe there is always a way out.”
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