It was sheer display of anger and frustration by the residents of Galadimawa Municipal Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) when our reporter KEHINDE OSASONA visited the community recently to ascertain the cause of the power blackout which has persisted for months. According to the residents, life has become unbearable to them.
The Galadimawa community
As expected, every home, shop or even community needs regular and uninterrupted supply of electricity to live and stay in business. But the same cannot be said of residents of Galadimawa community who for almost four months now have been denied this very important utility.
Situated in the heart of the city and bordered by communities like Games Village, Kabusa, Lokogoma and Lugbe, business owners and residents-alike in Galadimawa have continued to rue their losses over total blackout that has incapacitated them financially and has made them victims of all manner of crimes.
How it all started
It was Yakubu Siyaka, a laundry man in his mid thirties, who triggered the conversation in an encounter with Blueprint Weekend when this reporter visited the community.
According to Siyaka, a whirlwind that accompanied what was supposed to be normal rainfall on the day of the incident was what the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) needed as an excuse to throw them into darkness which has continued for months.
Rhetoric
He said, “It happened that on that fateful day, there was a serious breeze which accompanied the rain and it led to destruction of many electric poles within the community. But now, the thing has been dragging on for four months and we have not had electricity despite several efforts and entreaties we have made both at individual capacities and as a community to NEPA office.
“Even after replacing some of the poles that were destroyed with new ones, if you ask them now when we are likely going to have light again, what they will tell you is; ‘watch out very soon, we are on it.’ Although, they have stopped bringing the monthly bills to us, I must confess, it has been very difficult to survive as small business owners lately.”
Continuing, Siyaka said, “Many shop owners like me, especially barbers, cyber cafes, frozen shops, welders, and laundry shops that solely depend on electricity to operate their businesses have closed their shops now because they could no longer cope with the no-electricity situation. Every day, I spend at least N2, 000 to buy fuel which is not even enough to finish my work. Even at that, our customers complain that we do not deliver in time, and we dare not charge extras for working overnight. My brother, it was that bad.”
Also lamenting, laundry worker, Kenneth Nwankwo, a laundry worker, said before this ugly situation, he hardly met his target, but that these days it is a different ball game all together and that the situation has really affected his profit margin.
“Before now, we do ironing for N100, but now, we have increased to between N150 and N200 which has not gone down well with most of our customers. Worse still, when you remind them of the prevailing power situation, they would flare up.
“And anytime our power-generating sets (generators) break down, customers are always on our neck to deliver. In short, we are tired of all the insults and the resultant frustration. We can only appeal to the minister of the FCT as well as the federal government to help us by providing needed materials so that electricity can be restored to our community without further delay just it was done to our neighbours whose lights have long been restored.”
On why it took them such a long time to react, a barbing salon operator, Tunde Agunloye, told Blueprint Weekend that they never knew it would drag on for this much even after reporting the situation at the popular Embe Lembe unit of the Human Rights Radio.
He said, “In this community, we are among those that pay AEDC heavily and promptly too which runs into millions of naira monthly. So, being a regular customer and a serious one at that, we never envisaged that we would remain in darkness this long.
“On a daily basis, I buy fuel of N1, 500 or more which is not even enough to power my small generator. Another problem is that the little gain from the salon now goes to generators repair and fueling alone. I think something must be done fast because the crime rate has increased greatly. If you cross to the other side of the street, you would observe that they now employ the service of vigilantes as activities of burglars and thieves have suddenly increased.
Also, narrating his ordeal, a beer parlour operator, Jacob Washima, described the situation as bad to the extent that they could no longer sell chilled beer to their customers.
“We now buy ice block at very exorbitant prices because our customers hardly consume un-chilled beers. Before, it used to be sold for N50, but now we buy for as much as N300 just to satisfy our customers. Buying fuel to power our generators too has also become tasking. We run at a loss daily and as a result, we buy small quantities lately so as to stay in business till the situation improves.
“Not only that, robbers now attack robbed people at will in their homes, especially at nights. My fans and my neighbours TV and other gadgets have been carted away by thieves who broke into our shops.”
On whether or not there was a move to contribute money for the procurement of the said materials, Washima said, “Some people brought up the idea, but no one has collected anything from me yet as I speak with you.”
The story was not different when Madam Martha Udzer and Andrew Tony recounted their ordeals. Udzer who equally lamented poor patronage, regretted that SunCity area that had the same problem now had their light restored, saying: ‘Is it because big people lives there, she asked? “We are all humans and I think we should be treated equally,” she said.
Nonetheless, what remains baffling to Udzer is that her gadgets and beers were carted away by the thieves. That, according to her, would not let her to start her business on a sound note thereafter.
For Andrew, if the situation persists without government’s intervention, it might force a lot of people out of business and the community would be greatly affected.
More residents lament
Other residents lamented their woes in separate interviews. Ahmodu Arome said, “If I had my way, I would have packed out of this place. Four months now when rainstorm destroyed poles in our community, erecting the poles has been somewhat slow and discouraging. At first, we heard it was NEMA that brought those new poles, but now others are saying it was NEPA.
“But for us as law-abiding citizens, the most important thing would be to have electricity restored to us again. I think government should be able to assist in this regard and talk to the authorities concerned because our past efforts to reach out to AEDC have not yielded any results at all.
For Jonathan Dele, businesses have been grounded and having sensed that, “I personally went to AEDC area office at Wumba and even their headquarters to lodge complaints on non-availability of materials to complete the work, but all to no avail.
“Truth is, the poles affected by the rainstorms were no fewer than 150 pieces, while some have been fixed, and others are still ongoing. In all, the job done so far can be put at 60 per cent – the reason being that they worked for like two to three hours a day and then close for the day. Tell me, how would they meet people’s expectations?
AEDC reacts
When our reporter got to AEDC service centre located in Galadimawa, the place was deserted and not a beehive of activities being a weekend.
However, an official who was on hand told Blueprint Weekend that he was not authorised to speak on the matter.
When probed further, he said, “Insufficient materials have been reason the electricity thing is yet to be fixed. The service centre here usually relies on materials sent from the regional office. And as soon as they receive them, they usually use them up and then wait for another. As you can see, we have none on ground for now.
“If you move round, you would discover that majority of the poles have been fixed and we are ready to do more as soon as we have materials needed to carry out such task. The community people have been here severally and they have been re-assured by our superiors.”
District head speaks
When contacted to speak on the personal efforts made so far to salvage the situation for his subjects, the district head of Galadimawa, popularly known as the Akimi, Alhaji Musa Barde, told this reporter that AEDC has actually been up and doing towards ensuring that light is restored in the area.
He said, “We have liaised very well and even up till now, we are still hoping that they would help speed up rate at which they are carrying out the work at the various sites in the community.”
Regardless of efforts so far made, according to some stakeholders who spoke to Blueprint Weekend, it seems unlikely that succor is near.
For Mary, who appears to have lost hope owing to the pathetic attitude to the whole thing, felt that government should not have waited until residents started crying out, knowing fully well that it is their responsibility to see to their well-being.
“This, for me, has taken longer time than necessary. This is in spite of the fact that other neighbouring communities that encountered similar situation are now enjoying light. Tell me, what is our own crime?” she asked, as she walked away dejectedly from our reporter.
