Business Activities Crippled In Osun As Blackout Enters Day 2

Economic and business activities were crippled in Osun following nationwide power cut by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), occasioned by the industrial action declared by the labour unions.

Following the power cut, there has been a blackout in all parts of the city including the Osogbo metropolis which has affected business owners whose business source relies on electricity.

Residents have decried the blackout noting that their businesses have suffered a major decline.

Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, a soft drinks seller, Mrs Adio Folashade whose shop is located around Old Garage in Osogbo lamented that she couldn’t get light to power her fridge but had to buy ice-blocks at extra amounts as customers refused to buy hot drinks from her store.

“This is the second day we have been buying ice blocks because customers will not buy if our drinks are not cold. We appeal to the power people to at least restore light for 30 minutes so that we can make sales too.

READ: Strike: Unions Reopen National Assembly Gates

“We understand that what the labour are fighting for is for our good but at the end of the day, they will still collect their salaries but who will pay for the losses we have incurred?”, she queried.

Also, a barber simply identified as Mr Saheed said his salon since Monday had been running on a generator.

He lamented that he had been operating almost at a loss since the commencement of the strike, and the money spent on fuelling the generator had taken all his profit.

“We are used to having constant electricity supply in Osogbo and I hardly have any need to use the generator. But because of the strike, I had to service my generator and fuel it. I had not used it in a long while before yesterday.

“I have spent almost N10,000 on the generator alone and I didn’t even have many customers yesterday. This means that I have not made the money I spent on powering my shop,” he said.

Mr. Adewale appealed to labour leaders and the government to resolve their differences as soon as possible “so that electricity can be restored.”

Also, Mrs Bidemi Ademola, a resident and an online vendor, said she makes a living by posting pictures of household utensils online where she meets her target customers but the battery of her two phones was already off because there was no electricity to power them since Monday.

Mrs Adewale, who said she turned to online trading when she couldn’t get any job after school, added that she and her family had to endure heat throughout the night as there was no way to turn on the fan without electricity.

“As I speak to you now, I am looking for where I can charge my phones. I am an online vendor and I transact most of my business on my phones. Only God knows the number of people who would have been trying to reach me now since my phones were off.

“I just pray that the NLC and federal government resolve their differences today for TCN to restore the lights. The absence of electricity is just adding more pain to what we are already going through in this country”

Similarly, Odunayo Felicia, a vendor of frozen food, said she had been apprehensive due to the power outage.

According to her, the apprehension stems from the fact that she is a vendor of frozen poultry and fish.

Ms. Alice Ogungbemi, a trader said that if power was not restored in the next 24 hours, all the frozen items in her freezers would spoil.

She explained that because she was on Band A and had constant electricity for the past two months and did not see the need to repair her faulty generator.

Ms. Ogungbemi, therefore, appealed to the labour unions and the government to quickly resolve the issue of national minimum wage “so that Nigerians can enjoy power supply.”