By Olanrewaju Akojede
#TrackNigeria: Magboro Community along Lagos/Ibadan expressway has been thrown into darkness over an alleged indebtedness of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Magboro Community has been under a rotational power supply schedule with IBDEC but the company has at various times failed to honour the agreement.
The latest development, however, has seen power supply cut from the community for about a week now which the residents have not been happy with.
There are also complaints by the residents over the crazy bills imposed by IBEDC a result of estimated billing system it adopted.
On the blackout experienced by the community, a resident, Mr Segun Olumogbon, said that the Area Manager of IBEDC confirmed the problem with the TCN.
“The manager came out to tell us that it is not that there is a problem with the light but it was switched off by TCN at Oke-Aro which is the place of generation. The blackout is not as a result of problems with the line.
“The blackout has been an issue now, Magboro, Ibafo and some parts of Asese community that used to have more constant supply have been cut off too.
“This is in spite of the huge amount IBEDC is collecting from us as a result of estimated billing system,’’ he said.
Another resident, who introduced himself as Mr David, said that the poor supply from IBEDC was unbecoming, adding that the community had suffered enough in the hands of the electricity company.
“The services from the IBDEC is appalling, we are not getting the value of the huge amount charged for the estimated billing.
“When the issue of this blackout started, I visited IBEDC office and the manager told me that the line was cut off by TCN because they refused to supply.
“We have our own monitoring team, so we decided to monitor from Ibafo and Igodo communities where we found out that they don’t have power supply as well.
“At Igodo, where we met three officials of IBEDC, we were made to understand that the problem is from Oke-Aro distribution centre,’’ he said.
Mr Tayo Ajayi, a resident of Oke-Afa, Magboro, said that the rotational system adopted by IBEDC was a fraud, claiming that the company had in many instances failed to honour the arrangement.
“The rotational system whereby we will have one day light and like two days off is not working at all, because many a time, IBEDC has failed to honour the arrangement.
“When it is our turn to have power supply, they will start giving excuses for why we won’t have power supply, but they will always stick to the days we are on off days.
“Instead, IBDEC should have also altered their own arrangement by giving us light to compensate for the time they were unable to give us light, but they won’t.
“The holiday they are enjoying is because of the estimated billing they are giving us, but they should have it in mind that all the power infrastructure are supplied through the community’s efforts.
“We need the intervention of the electricity regulators on our plight, or else we stage protest to drive home our grievances,’’ he said.
Responding to the blackout, the IBEDC Area Manager in charge of Magboro, Mr Adewumi, told NAN that efforts were on to restore power to the community.
“There is issue with the transmission station (TS) but it will be resolved soon. I cannot divulge what the problem is for now.
“The problem is been attended to at the management level and when it is resolved, power supply will be restored to Magboro,’’ he said. (NAN)
