By Bright Gbotemi
THE Residents of Akiriboto, a town in Ayedaade local government area of Osun State have called for government and individual’s support in their effort to restore power supply to the community.
According to the residents who spoke with our correspondent, the community has been in total blackout for the past three months without any hope of power restoration in sight.
Meanwhile, the power outage was as result of vandalization of electricity installation and theft of some cable.
The residents lamented that the blackout has since been aiding robbery in the community, particularly at poultry farms.
The medium gathered that the blackout has forced residents in the area to abandon poultry farming, which the community is known for as a result of constant robbery at different poultries.
Also, there has been an increase in cases of stealing of motorcycles in the midnight, according to the residents.
Speaking on the issue on Monday, a poultry farmer, Mukaila Mutairu, called on the government and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company to accede to the community’s demand of restoring power supply to the area.
Mutairu said: “The blackout has led to hike in the rates of crime in the village. The people in the community are known for poultry farming.
“However, the blackout has made farmers to lose great numbers of their poultry. Unknown people keep using the blackout to steal poultry in the community. If we had electricity, these robberies would not be as rampant as this.
“The first time the light had a fault, the community contributed N50,000 for repair.
However, immediately after they repaired it, around 2am of the following day, we woke up to a loud sound around where the transformer was located. When checked, we were told that some cables had been stolen. That was the last time the community had a power supply.”
Another resident, a motorcyclist, Joseph Adekola, said that the lack of electricity in the area had led to more cases of midnight robbery.
“They dispossess motorcyclists of their motorcycles. This has become very usual in the community. We are begging the government and the power distribution company to come to our aid”, he said.
Also speaking, an aged petty trader, Mrs Victoria Oloyede, said residents of the community travelled as far as Gbongan to get access to cold drinks.
Reacting, the Lead Media Relations for the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, Busola Tunwase, urged the community to take the protection of their electrical installation seriously and report any case of vandalisation.
“We take the issue of vandalism seriously. They should report the case to the IBEDC or the nearest police station in the area. We keep advising everybody to keep watch of their installations. The list of communities asking for replacement is long,” Tunwase said.