Seven communities in Kwara complain about the 18-month blackout.

The constant power outages that have plagued the area for more than 18 months have angered residents in no fewer than seven communities in Kwara State’s Ilorin East Local Government Area.

Agbeyangi, Oke-Ose, Panada, Badi, Adelu, and Oloro in the council areas were among the affected communities. Oke-Oyi, the Ilorin East local council’s administrative center, was also among them.

The communities have been dealing with power outages for the past 1.5 years, according to Ahmed Seriki, chairman of the Oke-Oyi Community Development Association.

He nevertheless urged the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company to bring electricity back to the region after 18 months of blackouts.

In an interview with our correspondent in Ilorin on Monday, Seriki lamented the circumstance and pleaded with IBEDC to take immediate action.

In light of the current economic downturn, he claimed that the situation had had a negative impact on local commercial activities.

The Chairman who claimed that the communities had repeatedly complained about the issue to the Babaoko and Challenge offices of the IBEDC in Ilorin without receiving a satisfactory response claimed that they had contributed funds to purchase electrical cables without receiving a satisfactory response.

We frequently went to the Babaoko, Sango, and Challenge offices of the IBEDC in Ilorin, where we were instructed to purchase cables and paid N500,000, but we received no satisfactory results. Nearly two years have passed since the blackout in our area began, he lamented.

Many businesspeople moved to other towns, he claimed, while those who were unable to do so are now living in utter destitution.

“We kindly request that the appropriate authorities, in particular the state governor and the IBEDC, restore the town’s power outage. Socioeconomic activities in this community have been halted by the power outage, according to Seriki.

Similarly, Jamiu Oladokun, the association’s secretary, described a time when the neighborhood purchased cables to aid in restoring electricity.

But Oladokun claimed that the effort had not produced the desired outcome.

The massive amounts of diesel and gasoline that Oke-Oyi’s hospitals purchase to run their generators and other necessary equipment are causing them to complain. We have met with IBEDC officials at Baboko and Sango in Ilorin on a number of occasions, and although we paid for the damaged materials to be purchased, our efforts have been in vain, he claimed.

The secretary said that the situation was intolerable for the locals.

As it is simple for criminals to operate in the dark, a resident named Jimoh Yewande pleaded with the authorities to save them.

Olori Busolami Tunwase, Corporate Affairs Manager of IBEDC, responded to a request for comment by The PUNCH by stating that the company would look into the specifics of the fault that had an impact on the local electricity supply.

If residents of the communities have reported problems to our office, we will look into the nature of the problems to determine what is truly wrong, then fix the problems and bring electricity back to the area, the woman said.