Ondo Communities Still In Darkness Despite N25 Million ‘Invisible’ Project

On Friday, 10th June, this reporter arrived at Ayeka, a community in the Okitipupa local government area of Ondo State, to ascertain the level of work done on an electrification project initiated in 2017.

N25 million was budgeted to restore electricity to communities in Okitipupa and Irele local governments, which fall under the same federal constituency in 2017.

The then lawmaker, Micheal Omogbehin, had initiated the project under the supervision of the Rural Electrification of Nigeria (REA), an agency under the Ministry of Works and Housing.

When this reporter arrived at Ayeka, most of the dwellers had gone to their farms. A few women were gathered to discuss the attack on St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo.

On major roads in the community, electricity poles were sighted but without connecting wires and other accessories. 

Residents told UDEME – a social accountability project of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development(CJID) – that the poles were erected as far back as 2006.

UDEME visited Idepe, Erinje, Igbotako, Ikoya and Ilutitun in Okitipupa local government and Aduga, Gbogi, Kidimu, Igboke and Akingboye in Irele local government. 

Businesses suffer

In Idepe Okitipupa, Olusegun Gbadamosi, a barber, sat in front of his shop looking worried. Seated inside the shop was a customer covered with the styling cape with his hair half-cut. The generator had gone off shortly before the arrival of this reporter. 

“All my gains have been spent on fuel and repairing tools,” a frustrated Mr Gbadamosi said. “If I make N10, 000, N8, 000 is for feeding, petrol, servicing of generators and the remaining is for transportation,” he added.

Residents render different stories of why communities in the two local governments have been cut off from the national grid since 2015. While some claim it was due to damaged electricity infrastructure, others claim it was due to the indebtedness of N1.2 billion to the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC).

In Irele, Gbogi street, a 40-year-old glazier, Femi Akinosin, was working before the generator went off. He opened the tank and discovered the fuel had been exhausted, hissed, then called one of his apprentices to purchase 20 litres of fuel at the rate of N5,000.

“What I should have used for the house has been spent on fuel, repairing tools and other miscellaneous things,” he said in a frustrated tone.

He lamented how he had bought five different generators since he started the business 12 years ago.

Itunuola Timilehin, a hairstylist, told UDEME that many of her machines got damaged due to using generators to power them.

The story is the same for most business owners in the community. On estimate, over sixty per cent of their income is used for powering their tools, leaving little or no room for savings or ploughing back.

Apart from this, the power outage, which conditions them to ration the use of generators, has discouraged potential apprentices from taking on skill acquisition.

“People are not ready to learn any handiwork again because of the lack of electricity supply,” Aladesimi Juliet, a fashion designer in Kidimu, said.

Total blackout forcing youths out of the communities

Adebayo Adeduro, an octogenarian, was playing draught with friends in front of his house when this reporter approached.

The farmer narrated how he had to send two of his children into welding and furniture-making apprenticeships in Ibadan due to a lack of power.

He noted that not only had his children left the community, but other youths had also left for what he called “greener pastures” because they couldn’t buy equipment and still depended on fuel daily.

Similarly, Adeleke Adunfe, an 80-year-old mother, told UDEME that her six children left 14 years ago, a year after the electricity in the area was cut off.

UDEME observed that some youths in the two communities are capitalising on the lack of power to set up device-charging businesses, which is now very common. They charge between N50 to N100 for a single charge.

In Aduga, an agrarian community with one ever-busy local market, Moses Adunlawo, a Child Education and Development graduate at the Tai-Solarin University of Education, Ijebu Ode, was working at a pure water company before he established a charging centre.

The 35-year-old told UDEME that he established a charging centre after discovering it was a way of making money. “I looked at the level at which people came to charge their cellphones and gadgets at the pure water company where I work. I decided to set up this charging business since it was problem-solving and money-making,” he said.

Aderehinwo Siji, who also owns a charging centre in Okitipupa, told this reporter that he set up the centre to help ease people suffering in getting their gadgets charged and make money. 

Where is the N25 million project?

Meanwhile, the pains of residents in these two local governments would have been reduced if the 2017 project tagged “Restoration of light back to Okitipupa/Irele Federal Constituency in Ondo State” was executed.

Just like residents, UDEME could not ascertain the specifics of the project or the level of work done – if done at all. No signages in any community in the local governments indicate information about the project.

Micheal Omogbehin, the then lawmaker who nominated the project, told UDEME to contact REA for information on the project.

“Go to the Rural Electrification of Nigeria and ask them,” the lawmaker said in a telephone conversation.

UDEME tried to reach REA via calls and emails, but none responded. A Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent to the agency on …was not responded to several days after the seven-day response window.

However, information from the Accountant-General of the Federal indicated that all ZIP’s projects up to the year 2020 had been fully funded. 

This reporter visited the Benin Electricity Distribution Company(BEDC) powerhouse along the Okitipupa—Ore highway, where he discovered a set of new transformers and some accessories now covered by bush.

“I only met those poles, transformers and wires here when I resumed here,” the tired-looking gateman told UDEME. “I couldn’t ascertain if we had generated a single voltage for the past five years I started working here, and as you can see, there’s no vehicle for operation here,” the gateman added, pointing at some parked vehicles.

However, the BEDC manager in charge of the powerhouse, Mr Lisoji Sunday, via a telephone conversation, said the reason for the zero voltage was the result of trees that fell on the poles.

“The light was damaged due to the heavy wind resulting in the destruction of poles,” he said.

Speaking with UDEME, the regent of Ode-Irele, Ayeromara Olarenwaju, called on the government for quick intervention while lamenting that the neglect of the local government is putting his people in total blackout.

Empty promises

In December 2021, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, said some communities in Ondo South Senatorial District, which have been in darkness for the past 14 years, would be linked to electricity again while appearing before the Senate Committee on Niger Delta Affairs to defend his ministry’s 2022 budget proposal. 

Also, in 2022, Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State promised to restore electricity to the Southern Senatorial Zone, after 14 years of total blackout, after a meeting with the Ondo South Power Committee in Akure.

 UDEME found out that despite all the promises, the communities, part of which are in Irele and Okitipupa, are yet to be connected to electricity.