RESIDENTS OF FEDERAL LOWCOST HOUSING ESTATE OLOJE, ILORIN, CRY OUT AS IBEDC OFFICIALS MAKES HARSH DEMAND TO END FIVE MONTHS DARKNESS

The Issue: Transformer powering the phase one community of the estate (FLCHE,Oloje Ilorin), got damaged on the 24th April, 2020. . Residents recall that the damage results from high voltage power released on the said day by the electricity distribution company. 

The community wrote several mails and had many meetings with the Baboko Business District of IBEDC which is the sales unit in charge of the area on ways through which the community could be restored back to the national electricity grid, none of the meetings could however bring respite to the community as IBEDC always insisted there was nothing the company could do despite the loss of revenue from the area which the situation potends for the power distribution company. 

The community however rose to the challenge by seeking help from the National Rural Electrification Agency through an illustrious son of the Emirate; Alh Kale Kawu who eventually facilitated the allocation of a new 500KVA transformer to the community by the federal government owned agency. 

The new transformer was delivered on 2nd September by the Agency without a single input of IBEDC which would eventually use the instrument to generate revenue. 

Residents however thought respite has come their ways with the successful installation of the new transformer which was completed on the 5th of September, 2020 without a single contribution by the distribution company as the whole installation bill was catered for through a mandatory contribution of the  sum of Ten thousand Naira by each residents of the estate, a contribution which was collected by the community executive and used for the purpose of the installation. 

Fresh trouble however started last week when a top official of IBEDC gave the following harsh conditions to the community before the transformer could be energised for use by the residents of the estate:

1. *Signing of an agreement by the community to dash away the faulty transformer to the business district (there are feelers that the top official) knows from the onset that the transformer is repairable and there are insinuation that if repaired, he would sell it to another community in need of transformer). This may mean that the non-responsiveness of the business district to the plight of the community was born out of greed knowing fully well that there are many well to do residents in the estate and that getting a new transformer would automatically result to some IBEDC officials taking fraudulent ownership of the faulty but repairable transformer. 

2. He also demanded a bribe of a huge amount of money before his technical boys could energise the new transformer. 

3. He also ordered the community leaders to ensure that all residents of the estate pay up all outstanding bills on their meters before the transformer could be could be energised, in fact, he insisted owners of prepaid meters in the estate must also buy units for a non existing power supply. 

The leadership of the community has however agreed to dash him the old transformer but found the other two conditions highly embarrassing and inconvenient giving the current economic challenge as occasioned by the ravaging COVID 19 pandemic. 

How convenient would it be for residents who have been in darkness for five months but yet just paid the sum of Ten Thousand Naira each for the installation of a new transformer to start another contribution towards meeting up with the bribe demand of the IBEDC boss and also paying up bills brought while the community was in darkness? This is the question that is currently bothering the leadership of the community and intervention do not come from appropriate quarters, the community may just have started another journey of darkness despite the installation of a new transformer. 

 This development however smacks of blind hatred for the community by the IBEDC boss while also exhibiting completely unethical acts, hence the cry out by concerned residents of the estate.