Residents of Dan Lawal, Kurmin Kogi Ward, in the Ikara Local Government area of Kaduna State, are lamenting the continued blackout being witnessed in the community.
PUNCH Metro learnt that trouble started in the area in 2015 when a rainstorm wreaked havoc in the community, destroying electricity infrastructures like electric poles and others.
Our correspondent gathered that while the community was still grappling with the reality of the blackout that followed the destruction by the rainstorm, some vandals also descended on the area stealing cables and other electric installations.
Efforts to restore power to the community, it was learnt, had not yielded any positive results so far.
The eight-year blackout, it was further learnt, had crippled businesses in the community just as it had also compounded the security situation in the area.
Small and medium-scale entrepreneurs who rely on electricity for their business were said to have relocated from the community.
Some residents who spoke with our correspondent lamented the failure of relevant bodies to restore power to the community.
A resident, Yunusa Dan’Mairo, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone, regretted that the last time residents of the community enjoyed a power supply was in 2015.
Dan’Mairo, a graduate of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, said efforts to have the light restored by the community leaders yielded no results as several appeals to political officeholders including the local government had yielded no significant effect.
He said, “In 2015, the community witnessed a rainstorm destroying some electric poles, which was followed by electric wires/cables theft including some wires from two transformers.
“We have transformers in the following villages surrounding Dan Lawal and Kurmin Kogi Ward: Tashar Hassan, Kankanki, Unguwar Barau. Two transformers were affected by the cable theft. There was also an issue of vandalism by criminal gangs after the issue of the rainstorm. The traditional rulers have tried to restore electricity since 2015 but to no avail.
“Lack of electricity here has scuttled the community’s development as small and medium enterprises that the community people relied on have been made stagnant.
“Those who are into businesses such as grinding, welding, blacksmithing works, barbing businesses, laundry, as well as doors and window construction works have since deserted following the protracted blackout.”
Claiming that all efforts to get the attention of the authority to accede to their demands had all failed to generate any result, Dan’Mairo said the community was working on lobbying newly-elected public officeholders for a way out of the blackout.
“As members of the community, we have agreed, now that we have a new member in the state House of Assembly as well as the House of Representatives, to draft letters and follow it up because the community has been suffering. We want to see what we can do with this,” he said.
The traditional head of the community, Dalhatu Muhammed, told PUNCH Metro that the community had not been able to send any letter to the state government, noting that their complaint had only been restricted to the local government.
“We only spoke about the problems to the local government. We notified the local government office. We made the local government authority aware of our predicament,” Muhammed, who is the Turakin Dan Lawal, said.
When contacted, the Head of Corporate Communication, Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, Abdullahi Abdulazeez, said the firm was not aware of the blackout, noting that the community should have written to the company.
“I am not aware. I am hearing this for the first time. What have they done about it? Have they written to the company and are there any communications they have sent to the company about what has been happening? If they had written to us about it, I could give you a concrete response,” Abdulazeez.
