Kunle Adelabu & Jare Babatunde
Residents of Grammar School/Agbele Community at Oke Ota – Ona in Ikorodu Local Government area of Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria, have demanded that Ikeja Electric Distribution Company (IKEDC) should give them steady power supply and stop giving them ‘crazy’ billings or take them off its grid.
THE IMPACT gathered that the community, which comprises of about 12 Community Development Associations (CDAs) which include Agbele-Ikoro, Tejugbola, Osoligbehin, Ajayi-Oronti, Ajumoni, Frontliner 1, Frontlner 2, Frontlner 3, Erunwen Balogun, Ifesowapo and others, have been suffering from constant irregular power supply for about four years now.
We gathered that most times, residents are without power supply for months, yet they are allegedly being billed exorbitantly at the end of every month by IKEDC.
It was also alleged that Ikeja Electricity has been supplying power to about 45 private transformers on the Eruwen feeder at the expense of the thousands of residents in the affected community despite that the same feeder also serves the various transformers in the community.
Some residents of the community, who had open confrontation with the staff of the electricity company earlier this month, also alleged that the company is using Mobile policemen to harass them.
THE IMPACT also gathered that the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Ikorodu had to intervene when the residents prevented staff of the company from commencing the planned load shedding, a situation, we gathered, led to the gathering of over a thousand of aggrieved residents at the house of the Baale of the Community, Alhaji Sulaimon Taoli, for a meeting to address the issue.
According to report, the crowded meeting failed to achieve any tangible resolution as the residents stood their ground.
Following the face-off, it was learnt that a team that represented the community met with officials of the IKEDC at the Ayangbure Business Unit office in Ikorodu and had an agreement which allegedly did not go down well with the majority of the residents in the community.
A cross section of residents that spoke with THE IMPACT said that they expected the team that met with the officials of the IKEDC to feed them back and allow the community to take a position rather than going into agreement with the electricity company based on their discretion.
Our reporter gathered that, attempt by the officials of the IKEDC to implement the agreement that they had with the representative of the community was rebuffed by residents who prevented them from having access to the transformers in various parts of the community.
Meanwhile, a section of the community has started #EndToIKEDC movement. THE IIMPACT gathered that the movement against the electricity company was initiated due to the insistence of the company to enforce the agreement with the committee against what the majority of the residents want.
It was also gathered that the fire incident that occurred earlier this month at Tewogbola Ajasa street, where a house owned by a resident allegedly got burnt completely due to power surge, also aggravated the residents’ reaction.
The affected family of the fire incident, THE IMPACT gathered, are now homeless.
Several protests against the operations of IKEDC in the community have also been held by the youths within the community.
The Secretary of the Osoligbehin Community Development Association (CDA) in the area, Mr Rasheed Elemuren , in an interview with THE IMPACT, said that the recent faceoff with IKEDC started earlier this month when residents of the community felt that they can no longer bear what they termed as injustice allegedly being meted out to them.
“It all started at the beginning of the lockdown when we felt that the injustice being meted out to us by IKEDC is getting unbearable”, he recalled.
“Some of our representatives were invited to the Ayangbure office of the Ikeja Electric to discuss issues concerning our area but what we discovered was that they did not revert back to us through any meeting but they just brought their plans for implementation.
“Their plans were that henceforth, those of us on the Eruwen feeders are going to be load shedding for 3 days on and a day off and the Ikeja Electric would guarantee 10 to 12 hours power supply”.
He stated that despite the implementation of the load shedding against the community’s position, they are only being supplied light for about 4 hours daily against the 10 to 13 hours arrangement.
“But unfortunately, since they started the implementation, what we have been using is less than 4 hours a day and they are not giving us light during the day. They will only bring the light around 3.00am and interrupted it before 6am”, he alleged.
He also stated that the community has been experiencing a lot of unfortunate incidents allegedly due to the IKEDC’s erratic power supply.
“We have been experiencing a lot in our area recently. A building belonging to one of our residents at Tewogbola Ajasa Street got burnt due to power surge.
“For more than three years now, we don’t have metres as readings are taken only at the transformers and as a result, they (IKEDC) are just giving us exorbitant billings and at our end here, we are saying enough is enough.
“They need to do the needful. They should provide us with metres and give us regular light. They usually take readings at the transformer instead of going to various houses to read their metres”, he alleged.
The community also alleged that IKEDC is satisfying private transformer owners on the Eruwen feeder at the detriment of thousands of residents in the community.
“We also observe that there is no justice in the load shedding. The IKEDC claimed that we have 24 transformers on the Eruwen feeder, but to our dismay, we observed that there are actually between 32 to 45 transformers, on the feeder”, he alleged.
“All the privately owned transformers that are also on the feeder are being giving daily regular power supply at our expense despite that they are not paying up to what the communities are paying.
“These private transformers are owned by Alabukun, GB Store, Firstsquare, Azunkem hotel, Dizzy Water and another company at a filling station close to us here. There is also a newly installed one that has not been powered. Those are the ones that we have been able to account for.
Reacting to the #EndToIKEDC campaign, Mr Elemuren said that what the residents in the area are demanding for is that IKEDC should discharge its responsibilities to the community.
He also informed THE IMPACT that they have presented their position via a paper to the IKEDC on how to bring a lasting solution to the faceoff.
“What the youths and others in this community are saying have been enumerated in a paper”, he said.
“It is an obvious fact that the IKEDC officials are not sincere on the issue at hand. We (the residents connected to the transformer in Tewegbola Ajasa community) have collectively agreed on the following positions:
“One, declaration of the actual number of the transformers on the Erunwen Feeder;
“Two, provision of Transformer Meter and Metering of households in our community;
“Three, if load shedding is to be achieved, all transformers on the feeder must be affected in the plan;
“Four, IKEDC should guarantee a minimum of 12hours power supply, and
“Lastly, IKEDC should assure that the load shedding plan will not exceed 4 months as planned”.
Explaining why the community is asking for commitment from IKEDC, Mr Elemuren stated that the electricity company had introduced same load shedding plan four years ago and pledged that it would only last for six months but that the situation has worsen today.
“The last time that they stated that they are going to be load shedding for five days on and one day off, and also promised that it won’t exceed 6 months, here we are today, four years after, there is no improvement”, Elemuren said.
“What we want is permanent solution to power issue in our area. They should not use us as sacrificial lamb. We have been hearing that Siemen want to take over and they are doing everything to recoup whatever they can.
“They are saying that they need N500million to resolve the problem on the feeder but what we are asking is that, what have they been doing with the monies they have been collecting all these while?”, he asked rhetorically.
He alleged that the company has been using divide and rule tactics in dealing with the residents as well as using Mobile police officers to harass them and demanded that such acts must be stopped.
“The IKEDC has been trying to use divide and rule tactics in its dealings with us, but as clear-headed youths, we have resolved not to fight anyone. We have been harassed with Mobile Police but we have maintained our calm.
“The last time that they came to deload without any notification, they brought about five Mobile Police officers. There was no consultation, but we maintained our ground and stated our demands. You cannot just come around to harass us.
“We presented our demands to them and ask them if they are ready to meet them. This is where we are right now”.
While alleging that some leaders have betrayed the trust of the majority of the residents, Elemuren added that youths and other residents are on the same page to correct the injustice allegedly being meted out to them by IKEDC.
“There are some leaders in our community that have been mediating which is welcome, but there are others that are not welcome here because they have at one point or the other sold us out. We agitated together but they went behind our back to get prepaid metres free of charge”, he alleged without mentioning names of the affected leaders.
“The youths of Tewogbola Ajasa community, including all other residents in the area, are demanding that the needful should be done; crazy billing must be stopped and they must stop insulting our residents”, he said.
“We have about 12 CDAs that are affected and almost every one of us has a common front concerning our agitation”.
Another resident in the community, Prince Fola Adetobi Alagbe, speaking with our reporter, also complained about the failure of IKEDC to fulfil its pledge of rectifying power supply issues when the load shedding was introduced four years ago.
He also added that despite the erratic power supply, the electricity company is giving them huge bills.
The above issues, according to him, led to the decision by the youths to start a campaign to end lKEDC presence in the area until whatever fault on the feeder is rectified.
“What happened was that, this lkeja electricity company came four years ago and said it want to change its power supply pattern at Grammar School area. They said that they would be giving us light for five days and interrupt it for one day due to the maintenance work going on at the power station at Sabo at that time. We were told that the change would only be for just three months.
“We accepted, but before we know it, the load shedding lasted for four years. And just recently, they came again to the community to announce again that they want to be giving us light for 3 days and take it off for a day.
“Invariably, two days in a week, we won’t be having that.
“Their bills are very high. In my house which is just two-bedroom flat, they give me #12,000, to #14,000 per month.
“In the last 3weeks now, there has not been light. Sometimes, they would just give us light for 4 hours in a whole day of 24hours.
“The youths in all the CDAs are now insisting that they don’t want Ikeja Electric again, that they should take Grammar School area off their grid for now and rectify the situation at Sabo station before connecting us back.
“We don’t enjoy light here anymore. Even, as I am writing you now, we don’t have light. It’s been 20 hours ago that we had light. That was the reasons the youths are spurring for action”, he said.
Meanwhile, a human rights lawyer and public commentator, Barr. Shakiru Omolaja, in a petition titled, “Provocation, Harassment, Exploitation, Oppression and Humiliation Of Customers In Agbele/Oke Ota-Ona, Ikorodu By Ikeja Electric”, and addressed to the Chief Executive Officer, Ikeja Electric Plc, called for urgent intervention.
The fiery lawyer pleaded with the IKEDC boss to “avert an avoidable breakdown of law and order in the Ikorodu community – especially during this coronavirus era in which Lagosians are trapped at home – against their will – no money, no food, no water and no light”.
Stating the plight of the community in the petition, Barr Omolaja stated that the community is opposed to load shedding, estimated bill fraud/harassment and vandalisation of transformer by staff of the electric company.
On behalf of the community, he also demanded stoppage of estimated billings, issuance of pre-paid metres to every unmetered resident, cancelation of load shedding/rotational power supply, minimum of 20 hours power supply daily and urgent need to constitute a taskforce to promptly handle complaints by residents.
The petition was signed by ten CDA Chairmen in the area as well as community heads, committee members and others.
As at time of publishing this report, every attempt to reach the Business Manager and Head of Corporate Communications, Ikeja Electric Distribution Company in Ikorodu, proved abortive. Messages sent to them through emails and SMS forwarded to their respective mobile phones were not responded to.
