Home Business Residents lament poor power supply, want Ikeja Electric’s license revoked
Business - January 3, 2019

Residents lament poor power supply, want Ikeja Electric’s license revoked

Residents within the Gowon Estate near Egbeda, are lamenting poor power service delivery by Ikeja Electric, even as they call on the Federal Government to withdraw the licence of the company.

According to a Daily Sun report, the residents made the call following poor power supply from Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, especially during the yuletide.

The estate, named after a one-time Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, was thrown into darkness during Christmas and the New Year and the residents are asking for a sack of the company.

The residents noted that the company’s Akowonjo Business Unit in the area has exhibited gross incompetence and dereliction with its inability to supply electricity to the area for several days.

They claimed that before the coming of the company, the area enjoyed regular electricity supply and prompt repair of faults against the current situation where the residents are left for months without power supply. The residents also said they had suffered untold hardship due to the lingering power outage.

According to them, the officials of Akowonjo Business Unit refused to give power to the estate because virtually all the houses and block of flats have prepaid meters.

Mr. Tony Coker, a resident of the estate, said the entire area had been experiencing epileptic supply for months, particularly during the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

“The past year also was nothing exceptional, when residents only had to deal with sometimes three hours of light or at most times had no electricity. These acts have left us very angry and so we call for the immediate withdrawal of Ikeja Electric’s licence and hand same over to other companies that are likely to perform better.

A trader, Mrs. Abigail Enejo, lamented that the frozen sea foods in her shop had spoilt because of incessant power cut.

“I am using prepaid meter in running my business which I recharge with N10, 000 monthly and still I do not enjoy regular power supply.

“Water has been an issue because of the blackout as residents have been forced to pay more for the delivery of water to their homes,” he said.

On his part, Mr Nathaniel Okoro, a former Chairman, Community Development Association (CDA) in the estate, described the situation as terrible, saying “it has never been this bad”.

“They (Ikeja Electric) seem not to care about what the people say about their service delivery posture. We told them that whatever their problems are, we can seat down to find solutions to them.

“We agreed that they will give minimum of 12 hours of power supply while the problem is being solved. According to them, their problem is energy theft.

“We also agreed to work with them and get to the place where the problem of energy theft is prevalent and sanitise the system to recover the money for energy theft.’’

Okoro, however, wondered why a company meant to provide citizens with utmost service delivery would continue to exhibit lackadaisical tendencies to its customers.

The paper reported that, when contacted, the Ikeja Electric’s Head, Corporate Communications, Mr Felix Ofulue, said “I will get in touch with the Akowonjo Business Unit to know what their problems are.”

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