Magbon Alade and seven surrounding communities in Ibeju Lekki Local Government Area have lamented that they have had no electricity for sox six years.

The communities made this known to the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, during his two-day working visit to Free Trade Zones in the area.

The affected towns are Magbon Alade, Alasia, Orimedu, Eleko, Osa Oroko, Ise, Akodo, Solu – all in Ibeju Local Government Area.

The Onilekki of Lekki, Oba Liasim Ogunbekun, presented the problem before the Governor during his parley with traditional rulers and villages’ heads in the area.

 

According to the monarch, the cause of the power outage could not be traced, while the power distribution company operating in the area has not given specific reasons for the blackout.

Ogunbekun said despite the repairs carried out on the transmission cables that bring electricity into the affected towns by the council leadership, members of the communities have not had electricity for more than 30 minutes in the last six years.

The monarch said, “This is the sixth year that we have had electricity in our communities. Nobody has explained to us what the problem is, but we were told it is due to faulty transmission cables that takes electricity into the communities.

“Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area chairman rose to the occasion and changed all the cables. Yet, we only had light for 30 minutes. Since then, all the towns have been in darkness. We make passionate appeal to you, Mr. Governor, to intervene in this matter.”

The disclosure was said to surprise Sanwo-Olu, who said the matter was never brought to his notice.

He pledged to intervene with the aim to restoring power back in affected towns, saying that the council chairman only informed him during the tour of the free zones.

The governor said, “I was taken aback when I was informed by the Local Government chairman that the whole communities have not had electricity in the last six years. I asked if the problem was caused by transformer, he said the issue was beyond that. I didn’t believe the story until you (the traditional rulers) are telling me now. This is so bad. I will find out whether the issue came from Ibeju.

“God willing, I will personally take full charge of the situation and ensure we solve the power problem for you. Your only task is to constantly remind the State Government through your Local Government chairman. This is a problem we cannot neglect; we must solve it with the urgency it demands.”

Other traditional rulers at the meeting include Onise of Ise, Oba Ganiyu Adegbesan, Oloshoroko of Osa Oroko, Oba Ebenezer Oyiri, Elemoro, Oba Tajudeen Elemoro, represented by Chief Raji Elemoro, and Onisolu of Solu, Oba Muyideen Balogun.

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