Ogun community faces power supply issues

Some residents of Christ Avenue Community in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area, Ogun State, are unhappy about the erratic power supply in their area. They say the lack of stable electricity is disrupting their daily lives and businesses.

The residents, who spoke to our reporter on Saturday, mentioned that the community often deals with irregular power supply. Sometimes, the electricity is available for a few days, then goes off for several days.

This situation has affected household tasks, especially food storage and laundry.

A fashion designer, who wants to be called Folashewa, shared her struggles. She said the unstable power supply has made her business more expensive. She now has to rely on alternative sources of electricity to keep her business running.

She explained, "Whenever there is no light, I use gas and charcoal to iron customers’ clothes. Sometimes, I fill up 2kg of gas, and it doesn’t last for more than two weeks."

Folashewa added, "I lose money like that. If there is stable light, I will be happy, and my business will keep growing."

Another resident, Mummy Zakariya, also spoke about the difficulties caused by the erratic power supply. She said it makes food preservation hard, leading her to buy food items in smaller quantities.

She stated, "Because the light is not stable, I cannot buy food items in bulk. I have to buy it in smaller quantities. We usually put my children’s uniform under the pillow and sleep on it to stretch it before the following school day."

Mr. Mathew, another resident, expressed his frustrations as well. He mentioned he spends extra money on fuel because of the unreliable electricity supply.

He said, "Because of other financial commitments, I do not put on the generator the way I want to. If I want to use the generator weekly because of the erratic power supply in our community in Mowe, I spend N10,000 weekly on fuel, and we are still going to pay for those days we do not have power supply."

Matthew explained that he had raised his concerns with the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company. They told him the community only gets the electricity capacity supplied from their headquarters.

He said, "The former official who was in charge of this area told me, which I told the people here. He said the kilowatt Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company supplies them is what they give."

When contacted on Saturday, the IBEDC Head of Corporate Affairs, Angela Olanrewaju, referred our reporter to the company’s Media Relations Officer, Daniel Adugbo.

But as of the time of this report on Sunday, Adugbo had not responded to calls and messages.