By OLUWASEUN NUBI

Residents under the aegis of Joint Erunwen Community Development Forum in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State on Wednesday staged a protest over what they described as erratic electricity supply by Ikeja Electric.

The residents were seen carrying banners and chanting solidarity songs.

Representatives of 18 registered Community Development Associations (CDAs) and several unregistered groups in the council marched to the company’s headquarters, accusing the distribution company of “selling darkness” in spite of residents’ regular payments.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the affected communities include Riverview, Efundara, Gateway, Ogunaike, Elite, Frontline, Lascomed, Ekiti, Surulere.

Others are Olorisha Oko, Green View, Balogun, Pearl, Likeminds, A and G, Sunshine and Oyefusi collectively home to an estimated 300,000 residents.

The Chairman of the Ikorodu Joint Communities, Mr Maxwell Olowosoki, said the forum had endured irregular and inadequate electricity supply since 2017, describing the situation as economically and socially crippling.

“In any community where there is no light, there is no life. Businesses collapse, insecurity increases and residents suffer needlessly.

“What Ikeja Electric is selling to us is darkness, not electricity,” he said.

Olowosoki alleged that most transformers serving the communities had been subjected to persistent load shedding due to overloading.

That, he said, was in spite of repeated assurances that a new injection substation would be constructed to ease pressure on existing infrastructure.

“Years ago, we were promised a permanent solution through a new injection substation. Three years later, nothing has materialised.

“Instead, load shedding has intensified, and communities are now being compelled to sign undertakings before faulty transformers are repaired,” he said.

The forum’s Secretary, Mr Ayodele Adeyinka, corroborated the claims, accusing the company of retaliating after the community formally rejected load shedding in January.

“We officially wrote to them to stop the load shedding. Rather than address our concerns, they increased it from two transformers to six. This is unjust and a violation of our rights,” he said.

Adeyinka further alleged that residents were often forced to purchase fuses and transformer components, sometimes, running into hundreds of thousands of naira before repairs were carried out.

“Now they demand that communities sign undertakings surrendering ownership of parts we paid for. That amounts to exploitation,” he added.

Other residents said that the prolonged blackout had worsened insecurity and crippled small businesses across the axis.

One of them, a trader, Mrs. Fausat Idowu, appealed for urgent intervention.

“We are suffering. Our businesses are dying and insecurity is rising. We plead with the authorities to compel the company to restore electricity and treat us fairly,” she said.

On their part, community leaders said that Erunwen hosted professionals and business owners, who complied with directives to adopt prepaid meters, yet continued to endure what they described as poor service delivery.

They warned that failure to address their grievances could lead to further escalation.

Responding to the community leaders Head of Security at Ikeja Electric Alausa Headquarters, Mr Babatunde Asaaju, proposed a roundtable meeting.

The roundtable, he said, would involve its headquarters, Ikorodu Business Unit and representatives of Erunwen Community as the way forward to resolving the prolonged power supply dispute in the area.

He added that the matter could best be resolved through structured dialogue rather than parallel engagements.

According to him, issues relating to power supply in Ikorodu fall primarily under the management of the Ikorodu Business Unit, which has the operational understanding of the area and is responsible for day-to-day service delivery.

“The way forward is a roundtable meeting. That is the only way this issue can be resolved. Representatives from our headquarters will be present, alongside the Ikorodu Business Unit and the community,” he said.

He explained that Ikeja Electric operated a structured escalation process, noting that matters were expected to be addressed first at the Business Unit level before being referred to headquarters when they were beyond local control.

“People are designated to manage specific issues. It is only when a matter is beyond them that it is escalated to headquarters. That is what the head office is meant for,” he said.

The official stressed that discussing Ikorodu-related issues without the involvement of the Ikorodu management would be inappropriate, as they were directly responsible for addressing operational challenges in the area.

“I cannot discuss the Ikorodu matter behind the Ikorodu people, who are assigned to manage it. They understand the challenges better and should be part of the discussion,” he added.

He said the proposed meeting would allow all parties to table their concerns openly, develop a clear action plan and jointly monitor its implementation.

“Once everyone is on the table, the Business Unit, headquarters and the community will agree on an action plan and monitor the implementation. That is how lasting solutions are achieved,” he said. (NAN)

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