Residents of Odi-Olowo, Ogutuga, Ososa and Oke-Ola areas of Ijebu Ode have alleged threats to their lives over perennial blackout that have lasted over 10 weeks.
They are, therefore, urging the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) Plc to come to their rescue by urgently repairing the only transformer servicing the area.
The appeal was contained in a petition dated April 26, 2019 and sent to the IBEDC Managing Director, Mr. John Donnachie.
The petition was signed on behalf of the residents by the Oloritun, Ikanigbo Mararun Community, Otunba Abdul-Fatai Sarumi.
“Our lives, health, work and security of our lives and property are all under threat now due to this sustained power outage in our area.
“Water which sustains life has become scarce. Our source of water is from boreholes powered by electricity in our homes and some commercial water vendors in the community. Many of these boreholes have been damaged as a result of heavy dependence of generators leading to inadequate water supply.
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“Our artisans whose jobs depend on power are out of business. The peace of our community is threatened. Water crisis looms, unemployment crisis looms, security crisis looms”, they lamented.
The community said when the problem started about three months ago, they promptly informed the IBEDC office in Ijebu Ode about the development but that nothing was done to get the transformer working again.
They said they decided to cry out because the residents could not muster enough fund to buy a new generator.
“We are using this medium to crave for your quick intervention to end the hardship which lack of power has brought upon our lives and for you to end our misery and avert looming epidemic that may arise due to absence of portable drinking water and associated crisis”, the petition stated.
IBEDC’s spokesman, Mrs Angela Adekunle, however, said transformer serving the Ita-marun communities was tested and confirmed bad on April 25, 2019 by our engineers. The report was thereafter forwarded to the headquarters for replacement.
The community wrote to report the faulty transformer and requested for replacement on the 29th of April, 2019. The team that brought the letter was addressed to be patient as the matter has been reported to the headquarters.
IBEDC has backlogs of request for transformers which is being treated on a first come first served basis. The faulty transformer of the community is noted by the company and will be replaced as soon as the consignment order for the request arrives.
We, however, apologise for all inconveniences this might cause our esteemed customers in this community with the assurance of power restoration immediately we get delivery of the transformers.
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