Some aggrieved residents of Oshodi under the umbrella of Oshodi Articulate Residents and Community Development Association have protested the continued lack of electricity in the area and the huge bills being distributed by officials of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria in the locality in recent weeks.
During the peaceful protest, residents and business owners whose sources of livelihood are now being threatened, poured out their hearts, accusing officials of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company whom they pay monthly bills to of deliberately making life difficult for them.
One of the community’s leaders, Mr. Tunde Solomon, who manages an hotel in the neighbourhood, said the poor power supply to the area and the bogus tariff the IEDC gives them every month has affected not only businesses but also many households who need electricity to address basic daily needs.
According to Solomon, the bill his hotel pays monthly which was around N160, 000 suddenly jumped to over N420, 000 in recent months even when power supply to the area has gone from bad to worse. He said this has forced many businesses to shut down in Oshodi and further led to job losses.
“We are paying for what we don’t use. Electricity supply to this community has seriously plummeted in recent times even when every other part of Lagos and even Nigeria are beginning to enjoy stable power supply. We are paying so much for darkness.
“We pay our bills to the Ikeja Electricity but are being fed a tangible supply by the Eko Distribution Company. All our efforts to have this issues addressed have not produced any positive result and as a result of this many business owners have closed shop while the few remaining ones have laid off many of their workers because the cost of generating power has become unbearable in the area.
“We are therefore pleading with the Power Holding Company of Nigeria to kindly look into our plight because we are really suffering by paying through our noses for what we don’t consume,” he said.
Vice Chairman of the CDA, Kazeem Fawole, and a prominent youth leader in the community, Akinmoye Idowu, who spoke to Saturday PUNCH, pleaded with PHCN authorities for urgent intervention, pointing that such step would ease the suffering currently witnessed by residents of the area.
Public Relations Officer of IE, Pekun Adeyanju, when contacted by our correspondent said that the power situation in Oshodi could be as a result of boundary issues but that they were already looking at ways to resolve the matter. He said they had not increased electricity billing in the area covered by IE but that the matter would be looked into urgently.
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