By Sunday Obafemi
Akure.
Residents of College Road Community in Iju, Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State have Petitioned the Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG in charge of Zone 17, Yunus Akeera over power outage in the area sppaning a year now.
The Residents also Petitioned the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, (NERC)Akure, as well as the Regional Head, Benin Electricity Distribution Company, (BEDC) Ondo Regional office to expedite action on the restoration of power into the area.
The people of the area in the petition signed by a Community leader, Dr. Joseph Adamolekun and the Secretary of the Community, Engr. A A Bello frowned at the shoddy job carried out, and poor handling of the transformer donated by the Senator representing Ondo Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Ayo Akinyelure aka Allover.
The people of the area in the said letter lauded the efforts of the Senator at ensuring they heave a sigh of relief from the total darkness they have been thrown to due to the damage and theft of certain section of the erstwhile transformer used in the area by some yet to be fished out criminals.
“No action was taken to replace the vandalized transformer until a philanthropist, a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator Ayo Akinyelure (Allover) made seven new transformers available to replace the vandalized ones in his constituency. This included the vandalized transformer at the College Road Community, Iju“.
The Petitioner in the letter dated 29th October, 2022 also expressed worry over the action of the contractor who allegedly took away the damaged transformer to unknown destination, as the BEDC bent on retrieving the damaged transformer before power can be restored into the Community.
The Community further explained that the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) Akure Unit has also refused to restore power on the installed new transformer on the grounds that the damaged transformer which was removed by the contractor must be deposited into their office.
“The BEDC Akure Unit has refused to energise the installed new transformer because the vandalized one removed was not deposited at their store at the point of installation. This action has kept the community in darkness for the past nine months Many State, Federal and Business establishments have been adversely affected“.
The residents appealed to the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of zone 17, AIG Yunus Akeera, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC and other relevant authorities to prevail on the contractor who allegedly took away the damaged transformer, return it to the office of the BEDC Akure office without any further delay and to ensure power is restored to the affected Community.