The management of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) on Wednesday explained to the Osun House of Assembly that the five months power outage in Ife North Local Government Council was due to paucity of funds.
Mr Akin Ogunleye, Osun IBEDC Regional Head, explained to the lawmaker that the power outage in the council was caused by a faulty power transformer that would cost N90 million to replace.
Ogunleye stated that the distribution company had tried its best in resolving the power outage, stating that the situation was, however, beyond what IBEDC could handle because of the amount needed to fix the problem.
He stated that the company was faced with paucity of fund and could not, for now, take the full responsibility of restoring power to the affected communities in the local government.
He said, “When we were contacted on the power outage, we got to work thinking that it was a minor thing that we can fixed only to find out that the coil of the transformer had gone bad.
“The bill we got for the repair of the transformer was around N28 million to N35 million, and experience has thought us that it is not the best to repair but replace with a new one which is in the region of N90 million which IBDEC cannot afford.”
Mr Timothy Owoeye, Osun Assembly Speaker, stated that the legislature could not continue to see the people of the state thrown into darkness and stand aside and watch without finding a lasting solution to the situation.
He held that the House of Assembly would not shy away from its constitutional responsibility and would not allow people of the state to be deprived of their rights to electricity and meaningful life.
He, however, adjourned the meeting until Oct. 26, for IBDEC to come up with a solution template.
The Osun House of Assembly had on Thursday summoned the Managing Director, IBDEC, the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) and the Federal Competition and Consumers Protection Commission (FCCPC).
The summon was based on a motion moved by Mr Tunde Olatunji, the Assemblyman representing Ife North, over the long months of power outage in Ife North Local Government Council
