Power problem is in every part of Nigeria. Even at that, the problem is fair in some places. A recent survey in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) shows that the city centre approximately enjoys 18 hours of the commodity daily.
Other parts of the territory are not that lucky. Gwarimpa, Kubwa and Life Camp, according to the survey, approximately see 12 to 14 hours of it per day. Jikwoyi and Karu see it for 8 hours daily. But in Mararaba and Nyanya, what is known as ‘load-shedding’ has been adopted; and the two towns have been divided into four, and each part is seeing 20 hours of it in every 72 hours.
During the survey, Blueprint learnt that residents of the aforementioned areas were still “complaining that the number of hours they see light daily,” considering the prestige of the FCT, “we supposed to have light 24/7.”
Surprisingly, if some towns in Gwagwalada area council see even 15 percent of what these areas see, the residents would have been seeing their communities like some sorts of Meccas.
At the advent of Abubakar Jibrin Giri-led administration of Gwagwalada area council last year, the administration adopted a strategy that would enhance regular power supply in the council, having understood that it was relatively under-supplied. By February this year, the strategy seemingly paid off as Gwagwalada, which used to stay in blackout for straight four days, began to enjoy “10 hours of light daily.”
At the backdrop of the development, the Secretary of the council, Alhaji Yahaya Usman, told Blueprint that: “we understood that in the council we have power problem, therefore we called on experts to help us in tackling it. Today, what we did has began to pay off because if you check Gwagwalada township now, you will see that the problem of power has changed for good.
“We did not focus on Gwagwalada alone. Every other town, especially Zuba, in the council would have improvement as far as power is concerned.”
In Zuba, Jubilation followed Usman’s words. However, months after he gave the residents his words, perpetual blackout that has been invading the town since three years ago is still the same, if it has not aggravated.
Residents of the town, who spoke to Blueprint, said sometimes it stays for a month “without a blink of light,” except the ones produced by generators.
Malam Mairiga Yunusa, a resident of Minister’s Hill area of the town said, save for the rural areas that had not been electrified, he had never seen a town suffering from “lack of light” like Zuba does.
“You will stay in this town for a good one month without seeing even a blink of light, except that of generator. It is what I hate the most about this town. In fact, I have never seen a town that does not see light like Zuba before, and I have traveled through all parts of Nigeria,” Yunusa lamented.
Another resident, Tanko Mohammed, said even the neighbouring communities, Madala and Runji, enjoy significant levels of power supply, but nobody had been able to unravel why that of Zuba is different.
“Even though there own is not always, they enjoy light averagely in Madala and Runji which are very close to us; we just don’t understand what is happening in Zuba,” Mohammed submitted.
To Isaac Obson, who sells electronics in the town, whatever anyone has to do with electricity in the town, the person must generate it through a generator.
“That is why things are more cost here. You cannot refrigerate water, you cannot grind your food unless you take it to people that have fuel grinding engines. You cannot watch even TV; some people even pay to watch. The situation is just bad, and worst during dry seasons. The condition has made things cost in this town, because even to recharge the battery of your phone, you have to take it to a commercial battery charger. We don’t know what is wrong,” Obson lamented.
He added that, “one surprising thing is that, they know how to manage to give us light for a few hours if the time of collecting light bills comes. As they know how to give light when they are ready to collect money, why won’t they do the same the other times?”
When our correspondent visited the town on Monday night, there was no power, but almost every household and shop had a power generating set. The dins were harmonised to cause a very strong noise pollution, while the smokes would not allow people to move without causing tears in their eyes.
When our correspondent visited the town’s PHCN office around 11:00am yesterday, the staffers were not on seat. The receptionist, however, hinted that: “don’t wait o! All of them don go operation. And even if dem dey, dem no dey talk to press people.”
However, a former staffer, who lived nearby, agreed to speak on the situation under anonymity. According to him, “the transformers are good, and the general wiring is not bad. The problem is from the big people of the town; they don’t go to the power distribution unit to bribe the officials to be supplying their town. Anywhere you see light always, the big people are not sitting down.”
