‘Erinje power substation not working after commissioning’

• Residents accuse BEDC of sabotage, deceiving govt
• We’re on top of the situation, says Ondo govt

The people of Ondo South Senatorial District in Ondo State have continued to experience outage despite the completion and inauguration of the 132 kV transmission lines and 132/33 kV substation to solve blackout in the axis.

With the development, residents of the affected communities in the five local councils of the senatorial district accused the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) of purportedly frustrating the restoration of electricity to the communities.

The residents described the situation as an act of sabotage on the part of the BEDC, saying that the disco had no justification not to reconnect the communities to the national grid following the completion of the substation.

They accused BEDC of deceiving the state government that the affected communities had been reconnected.

The Olu of Igbokoda, Oba Odidi Omo Afolabi Oladimeji, said since the inauguration of the substation, electricity had not been restored, and the people could no longer tolerate the sabotage by the BEDC.

REACTING to the development, Special Adviser to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa on Energy, Johnson Alabi, said: “We are going to sit down as a team and discuss the way forward. As a matter of fact, we also know that very soon we are going to invite stakeholders to a meeting.

“About two weeks ago, we had a delegation of people from the Ondo State Electricity Regulatory Bureau and Ondo State Power Company. We sent them to that end to find out how power has been distributed and how effective they have been. The report we got was not too palatable. But then, we believe there is always a way out.”