This situation has severely impacted local businesses and inflicted hardship upon the community.
The residents who spoke with PUNCH Metro on Sunday noted that while some communities are experiencing erratic power supply for more than a year, some areas have been completely deprived of electricity.
During a four-hour tour of the communities, our correspondent observed a complete absence of electricity supply.
Notably, Soyinka Street displayed numerous installed poles that are devoid of any cables connecting them to provide electricity to the community.
Funke Kasali, a resident of Soyinka street, expressed her frustration over the lack of electricity supply in her community for the past four years.
She said efforts made by community leaders to secure the intervention of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company in installing cables and supplying power to the community have been unsuccessful.
She said, “We got to this area four years ago and since then we’ve not experienced electricity supply. We have tried to get the IBEDC to help us but nothing yet. My husband told me that the electricity people said that we should connect wire to our community first before they can supply us with electricity.”
Another resident in Arakanga, who identified as Abioye, noted that for over one year, the community, which pay host to the State’s water corporation and the Arakanga forest reserve, has been without power supply which has affected businesses in the community.
Abioye said, “We are really suffering in this our community. There is nothing we are enjoying in this community. Our road is bad and we don’t have light too. Since over a year now, electricity supply has been once in a while. This has really affected our busses. I am a trader in soft drinks and sachet water, the poor electricity has really affected my business.”
A house owner in the area, Akin Akindele, said that electricity that could have encouraged people to rent house in the community is not readily available which has deterred people from patronising houses in the area.
“This issue of electricity is causing us a lot in this community. Some people are beginning to desert their houses because the road is bad and electricity that could have attracted people to rent houses in this area is not readily available”, Akindele said.
When contacted, the spokesperson of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, Busolami Tunwase, blamed the inconsistent electricity supply to some Ogun communities on the recent collapse of power grid in Osogbo and the low supply from the Transmission Company of Nigeria.
Tunwase said, “The erratic supply in parts of Ogun generally is due to low allocation. And in part, the TCN tower collapse also affected supply to some part of the State . We are however not ruling out the cases of local faults within communities, our appeal to them is to always report these faults promptly for quick resolution.”
On the four years blackout in one of the communities, Tunwase said she cannot make comment until investigation is done.
