I have been monitoring the epileptic supply of power to Iseyin and its environs for the past three weeks, and I’m afraid that unless something urgent is done, the artificial darkness in which our people have been plunged will have negative implications on our economic life and heighten the security challenges in our region.
About two weeks ago, I went to IBDC, Iseyin Branch (henceforth, NEPA), to pay my bill. The cashier rejected my ₦5000 and insisted that I must pay ₦7000, which I reluctantly paid. I left their office dissatisfied and grumbling. On getting home, NEPA had cut off our power. It was on a Friday, and NEPA didn’t restore the light until Sunday night. Since then, the cumulative power supply in my area over the past two weeks has been less than 24 hours in total.
For people outside Iseyin, you may be surprised as to why we are concerned about this. Prior to the new Czar at the Iseyin NEPA office, the city could boast of enjoying at least 22 hours of electricity per day. In some instances, the electricity wouldn’t even flicker for a second during the whole week. This has helped the city grow economically, especially for artisans and others whose livelihoods depend largely on electricity. With the current attitude of the new Czar, there is no doubt that the booming economy of our city might plummet into recession.
It must be noted that in Iseyin, as it is likely in other parts of the country, it has become the responsibility of the community and individuals to purchase poles, buy cables, buy transformers, write to NEPA headquarters for permission to energize the system, and once it is energized, everything you have spent hundreds of thousands to erect becomes the property of NEPA. This is nothing but daylight robbery!
Again, the sudden outage has grievous implications for the security of our city. The Yoruba have a proverb that states, “Oru laaseka” (meaning, it is in the dark that people perpetuate evil). There are relevant instances to justify this, but I would not like to go into the details. If our economy is threatened and the security of life and property is jeopardized, then we need to act fast and address this as a matter of urgency.
The argument from the new Czar in town that people are not paying is frivolous and unfounded. There are many instances when NEPA officials would visit their customers to collect money from innocent residents with a promise to remit the payment, but at the end of the day, the money ends up in the pockets of the NEPA officials. If you lodge a complaint at their office, the staff would protect their colleagues and pretend as if nothing had happened, and you would be forced to leave, frustrated, after not being attended to.
The Way Forward…
1. The leadership of our city, IDU/ICS, should call a peace meeting between NEPA and the residents.
2. A sum of ₦5000 monthly should be agreed upon for residential buildings, while those using electricity for commercial purposes can negotiate an agreeable amount to be paid monthly.
3. Pending the resolution of all the controversial areas and the full restoration of electricity as it was before the new Czar, the payment of NEPA bills by Iseyin residents should be **VOLUNTARY**. Why? Because it will be foolhardy to force our people to pay for DARKNESS.
4. NEPA should devise a realistic means of ensuring that people pay for the electricity they use, and the only way to realize this is by distributing pre-paid meters **FREELY** to the residents.
5. The leadership of the city should also evaluate the ongoing electricity crisis and ensure that saboteurs have not infiltrated the Iseyin NEPA office with a view to destroying the peace and the unprecedented development the city is currently experiencing.
6. The traditional council, the local government authority, IDU, ICS, and youth organizations should please narrate the history of Iseyin and NEPA to the new Czar at the NEPA office to ensure she is acquainted with the demands of her job and new posting.
7. I want to appeal to His Excellency, Engr. Seyi Makinde, to please come to our aid before this issue gets out of hand.
8. I sincerely appeal to our youth, artisans, community leaders, and other residents of our fast-growing city to please remain calm while this issue is being addressed.
9. There are many challenges facing the country and our community at present, and we can’t afford to add the issue of artificial power outages to it.
A stitch in time saves nine!
