Over 7-Month Blackout Posing Threat To Us – Osun Community
Afaake, a community in the Ejigbo Local Government Area of Osun State, has been thrown into total darkness for more than seven months after the town’s only transformer broke down in March.
Residents of the community have however, lamented that the absence of electricity had crippled small businesses in the community.
They added that the development had also worsened access to clean water and disrupted the education and safety of their children.
A former Peoples Democratic Party House of Assembly candidate in the 2019 General Elections, Faruq Abbas who hails from the community in a letter to Governor Ademola Adeleke, appealed to him for the deployment of a new transformer, noting that the situation had made life unbearable for him.
He wrote: “We first reached out to the IBEDC, and they came for repairs. But the transformer exploded again. They later told us that it was damaged beyond repair.
“I also contacted our House of Representatives member, Bamidele Salam, and he promised to help once new transformers were available. That was four months ago. Still, nothing has been done,” he explained.
Another resident of the community, Taiwo Adebayo said, “This issue of no light and transformer for over seven months has affected the community and me in so many ways. Children can’t study at night, because there’s no light.
“Even to charge our phones is a big problem; we have to trek five kilometres to the next village to access light, except for people who can afford to buy fuel for their generators, and we know the cost of fuel nowadays is high.”
According to him, the blackout has made access to water difficult, as the community’s four boreholes depend on electricity.
“We use electricity to power our boreholes, but since the transformer became faulty, we have been suffering. People now buy sachet water to survive, and buying water is not easy because of the cost. Businesses are dying. I buy and sell cocoa produce, but companies from Lagos now find it difficult to reach us because of bad roads and lack of power,” he added.
Another resident, Taofeek Ganiyu, accused their political leaders of neglecting the community since the transformer broke down.
He said, “We feel used and abandoned. Our votes don’t seem to matter anymore. The rate we buy fuel is too high, yet we need it to pump water and power our refrigerators.
“The situation has turned our community into an isolated village.
There is no light, no water, and no road.”
Yusuf Oketola is a trained journalist with over five years of experience in the media industry. He has worked for both print and online medium. He is a thorough-bred professional with an eye of hindsight on issues bothering on social justice, purposeful leadership, and a society where the leaders charge and work for the prosperity of the people.
