TheCable

BY GABRIEL OGUNJOBI

The Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) has restored electricity supply to Surulere community in Ondo south local government, Ondo state, which spent two years in darkness.

TheCable had reported the plight of residents of the community since the overloaded transformer serving over 900 households within 18 settlements got damaged in 2018.

The situation had forced some residents to relocate, while those who stayed behind contributed over N7 million to procuring transformers and other electrical equipment.

On January 14, the residents finally heaved a sigh of relief as BEDC reconnected power.

“It is a breath of fresh air and relief after two years, twenty days and roughly six hours,” Ajani, one of the landlords in the community recounted.

“It was on the night of my daughter’s birthday on December 24 that the transformer exploded. I don’t think I can forget that in a hurry. As I speak to you, there’s still light since yesterday afternoon that they fixed it.”

For another committed member of the community, Adedeji Adeyeye, the latest development came with mixed feelings.

He is hoping the electricity company will not have a reason for any “continued extortion” from estimated billing.

“Of course, people are happy, so am I. But before now, we had bought and exchanged transformers on three occasions,” Adeyeye said.

“Not until we greased the palms of the BEDC staff and their hands were forced by your report, they kept having reasons to fault the transformers we bought by ourselves before installing it. The good thing, for now, is that we now have electricity.”

Sunkanmi Oladapo, a landlord who relocated to another community with his eight-member family, expressed willingness to return following the recent development.