Ekiti communities protest one year blackout

Residents of Omuo Ekiti, headquarters of Ekiti East Local Government Area of Ekiti State on Tuesday sent a passionate appeal to the Ekiti state government o intervene over the power crisis facing virtually all towns in the area for more than a year now.

A community leader, Mr Adegbuyi Ayodele told newsmen in Ado Ekiti that more than 15 communities in the local government were affected by the blackout, thereby making life difficult for residents and paralysing their businesses.

He listed the affected towns to include Omuo, the council headquarters, Kofa, Ilada, Eda- Ile, Isinbode, Araromi and Ikun Ekiti among others.

According to him, several artisans who relied on electricity to power their machines were now finding it difficult to cope with life as their sources of income had been negatively affected by the blackout.

He claimed that the crisis was made worse as street lights erected by the state government on the recently dualised road in Omuo Ekiti was now being powered by the palace generator.

He said authorities of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, (BEDC) demanded for payment of N78m being unpaid bills allegedly incurred during the pre-privatisation of the power sector, but which was inherited by the new power managers as liability.

Ayodele explained that when all attempts by the affected communities to raise the huge sum from any of the federal and state elected officials yielded no result, the leaders imposed a levy of N5,000 per each household.

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