Darkness and Despair: Residents of Èbúté Metta West Lament 6 Months Without Power Supply

For six months, some parts of Jones Street, Jebba, Ondo, and Odaliki in Èbúté Metta West have been thrown into darkness due to a faulty transformer. Despite the harsh economic conditions, this has caused untold hardship for the people who spend a lot on fuel to power generators for electricity and water. Some even purchase water at exorbitant prices from ‘Meruwa’ (Hausa men selling water) in the neighbourhood. And painfully, this has led to the death of a three-month-old baby and a man who recently returned from abroad due to the severe heat between March and May.

Sometimes in April, after weeks of going to the Èkó Disco offices at Ijora and Marina to complain about the hardship, the people staged a peaceful protest at the PHCN office at Odaliki. PHCN officials told the people the problem would be resolved in two weeks. Elders in the community asked the community members to give the PHCN officials the benefit of the doubt.

The residents left the PHCN office for the Mainland Local Government Secretariat, a stone’s throw away from the transformer, to inform the chairperson about the issue—hardly had the people settled in when some police officers walked in. One of the officers pointed his gun at the people unprovoked before his colleague pushed him from behind, apologised on behalf of his partner, and calmly addressed the people. He said they received a distress call that some intruders were in the council’s Secretariat.

The Mainland Local Government Vice-chairman, Hon Jubril Emilagba, addressed the people. In a brief speech, he apologised for the presence of the police officers. He said the police were passing by the Secretariat when they saw the crowd and decided to know what was happening. He pleaded with the residents that the executive Chairman, Hon. Mrs Omolola Essien, empathise with the residents for suffering the hardship of a faulty transformer. Hon. Emilagba thanked the people for their patience and invited some elders and CDA members for a meeting.

The outcome of the over one-hour meeting was that the Secretariat would get a new transformer to replace the broken one. After two months, nothing is done. Some CDA members went to the Secretariat for updates on the situation and were told that a new transformer would be bought before Ileya. However, up to this moment, nothing has been done. The residents are still spending a lot of money on power generators for electricity and water, affecting their savings.