Members of the Iyiowa Odekpe community in Anambra State’s Ogbaru Local Government Area have protested the community’s four-year-long power outage.
According to a report by The Punch, the residents demonstrated on Wednesday at the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company in Ogbaru District, Onitsha, along the Obodoukwu-Atani Road.
The group expressed their dissatisfaction with the community’s living circumstances, claiming that they were spending over N2,000 per day to run their generators.
Igwe Cyril Anochere, the community leader, told journalists at the protest site that the EEDC had failed to energize the transformers despite the community investing over N20 million for three transformers, electric lines, poles, and craftsmanship.
Anochere, in the presence of the EEDC top management staff, including the network manager, accused them of demanding a N3m bribe before they would energise the transformers.
He added that the community had become a ghost town as socio-economic activities had been paralysed.
He said, “Our community has been without electricity for almost four years now. Did you know that we spent over N20m rehabilitating and installing equipment which the EEDC was supposed to do?
“We installed three transformers, changed all the cables that were spoilt, mounted electric poles through community efforts. Now, the problem is that we have been telling the EEDC to come and energise the transformers, but this network manager here, is demanding a bribe from us. He said we must give him a bribe that the EEDC doesn’t have money that they would use to energise the transformers. Transformers that the community installed with their own money?
“We have made a lot of efforts to persuade them to energise the transformers; we have been giving them money. Now, the community is tired of giving them money. I cannot walk freely in the community because they are accusing me of embezzling their money; they are holding me hostage. Now, we are here for them to know that the matter is in the hands of the EEDC.
“In fact, we have obtained a directive from their operational headquarters in Enugu, instructing them to energise our transformers. Yet, the network manager said ‘no’ that unless we give him money, and this has been happening for over three years now. As a matter of fact, the network manager doesn’t deserve to be here anymore.”
The Network Manager, Mr Steven Uzodimma, declined comments on the allegations levelled against him.
He said, “Well, the company where I work, we don’t grant this kind of interview without the consent of the organisation from the headquarters. Meanwhile, I am the network manager of this Ogbaru District. No further comment.”
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