Business Owners, Residents Cry Out Over 6 Weeks Blackout In Osun Communities

Business owners and residents have been thrown into blackout following the electricity transformer which developed fault over six weeks ago in Anaye and Oke-Abuja communities of Iragbiji, Osun.

The lingering situation was said to have impacted lives and smooth running of business activities in the two communities where Anaye market – one of the business hubs serving Iragbiji town and its neighboring communities is situated.
Adebayo Akeem, whose company manufactures cooking oil in the area, said the transformer has not only kept him out of business but affected his relationship with banking institutions he works with.
He stated that the situation became difficult for his business because he can only make profit depending on electricity from the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), adding that it is expensive for his business to run on diesel fuel at the moment.
“It’s over two months ago now. We went to meet with the NEPA (now IBEDC), but they said they had no power to repair it nor restore electricity unless we can pay for repair ourselves,” he said.
Continuing, he said the officials at the electricity company contacted an engineer for them who demanded a sum of N1 million for the repair, adding that their inability to gather the money is making the time difficult for many people and businesses in the communities.
Just like Adebayo, another shop owner, Adeyemi Saheed, told our correspondent that the only option remaining for them was to beg for a new transformer, adding that the faulty one has been gulping money from the two communities since 2018.
An official of the IBEDC who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity said a letter of complaints had been sent to their head office in Ibadan.
Asked on why the company was not responsible for the repair, she said the communities were told to wait for the IBEDC but volunteered to look for money for the repair so as to swift restoration of electricity in the area.