Residents of Oke-Ogun community in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara, have called for restoration of electricity supply in the area as Nigeria marks Democracy Day.
Some of the residents, who spoke in Ilorin on Saturday, said power outage on democracy day was a reminder that the country needed to do more in its developmental milestones.
A resident, Mrs Adebanke Olatunji, who expressed sadness at the situation, said “right now I don’t even know what to say, we did not envisage power outage on a day like this.
“The transmission companies should know it is an important day to citizens and should give us electricity.
“We don’t even know what is going on in other parts of the country, we are left with information going round on Facebook or WhatsApp.
“This is not good on a day like this,” she said.
Hajia Sidikat Abdullahi, a pepper seller, said electricity went off on the morning of June 11 and she could not charge her phone.
“We don’t have light since yesterday morning, my phone battery is drained, I can’t call my children who are outside the state to know their wellbeing.
“I use my phone radio to listen to news, but right now, I have no information on the state of the nation. I’m just believing God that all is well,” Abdullahi said.
Another resident, Mr Amos Oladayo, said: “As you can see, the light just returned and this is some minutes after 1 p.m.
“We have missed a lot of activities going on around the country today.
“I think there is need to overhaul the power sector generally, especially this Ibadan Electricity Disco, it is insensitive of them to not make electricity available when we needed it most today. There is need for stability in this sector.
“We have just been reminded again today that we still have a long way to go,”he said.
Mr Koya Pamilerin prayed for the nation while tasking government on making the dividend of democracy available to citizens at all levels.
Pamilerin said access to social amenities and infrastructure and respect for human rights was key to true democracy.
