The residents of Igbede community in the Ojo local government area of Lagos State have staged a protest in the area in condemnation of many years of lack of electricity supply to the community by Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC).
The protesters under the auspices of Igbede Residents Association matched peacefully along the streets, crying out to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to urgently come to their rescue.
The group displayed placards with inscriptions such as: ‘Gov Sanwo-Olu save Igbede community from perennial darkness’, ‘Gov Sanwo-Olu come to our rescue’, ‘Sanwo-Olu repair our roads’, ‘Enough is enough, EKEDC give us light’, etc, as they marched along peacefully.
Addressing newsmen during the protest, the leader of the group, Mr. Vincent Offordum, recalled the horrific challenges confronting the community for many years, ranging from the total collapse of access roads to the failure of EKEDC to restore electricity in the community, among others.
He stated that for the greater part of over 21 years he had lived in the area, residents had resulted to self-help in contributing funds and materials for the maintenance of the roads without any help from the Lagos State and Ojo Local Governments.
He noted that in 2002/2003, the community upon the directives from certain government officials paid some funds to the government to officially have a file opened in the name of the community at the state secretariat, Alausa, saying “a file was opened in the name of the community after making certain payments at Alausa, then government officials promised that the Lagos State will construct our roads.
“Regrettably, many years down the line nothing has been done. Igbede community has been neglected and abandoned and left on its own to suffer with no help in sight.
“For over four years now, the Igbede community has been thrown into perennial darkness by the EKEDC, which had refused to restore electricity to the community despite of our several complaints to them. The worst of it is the crazy bills they send to us, and the huge revenues they collect from every household in the area on monthly basis, even when electricity was not supplied.
“For over four years now the community has suffered a lot in the hands of EKEDC.”
He noted that due to the perennial power outage in the area so many businesses had closed down, and many tenants had relocated to other areas.
, while some landlords had equally abandoned their buildings and left the community.”
