Power Outage at Agbara: "I Had Typhoid Because We Were Using Well Water"

By Ajayi Samiat 

Residents At the Agbara axis of ojo district have suffered a three week power outage resulting from the damage of multiple electricity poles on Orin, Iyano era road.

According to information gathered from a staff of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) ojo district, the power outage which commenced on Saturday 3rd of February took effect as a result of the damage of utility poles by trailers who collided with the poles on the Iyano era road.

Following the outcome of the March 1, 2022 community engagement meeting, where the issue of the power outage was discussed, the officials of the EKEDC ojo district revealed that they were erecting a total of 30 poles and promised that Saturday March 4, 2022 if not Friday March 3, 2022, will be the date power will be restored in the area.

The officials however failed to meet up with the promise dates but followed their inability to restore the light with an explanation on the community relations platform, where it was Stated that work was near completion but was delayed due to the rejection of an initial design by the top management for reasons of preventing future reoccurrence. 

 

EFFECTS OF THE POWER OUTAGE ON STUDENTS

Adewunmi Fatima is a 200 level student of the school of communication, who has lived in Igboelerin, First gate for ten months now and revealed in an interview with ACJ LASU that she has never experienced anything as such.

For Fatima who is an ulcer patient the experience was "really annoying" owing to problems of inaccessibility of water, charging of phones and severe body reactions.

At the initial stage of the power outage, getting to school early enough to secure a spot to charge worked for Fatima but on occasions where the school's power was out, she resorted to paying one hundred naira to charge.

Asides from the expense of charging, the power outage came with typhoid, heat and many more.

"We were using well water, I had typhoid during the period because I tried using the water to cook when my pure water got finished and we couldn't get access to tap water".

"Fuel price got hiked, so there was increase in the price of almost everything, the heat was unbearable and because of that I started having body reactions"

When asked how the power outage affected her academically, the student revealed that she had missed two online tests due to the power outage.

Amongst many others, another affected student was Rauf Ridwan Adewale, a fresher in the faculty of law, who sumed up his days in Igboelerin, first gate to seven months.

Rauf just like Fatima has never experienced a power outage in the area which he described as "hell" because "the heat was too much".

On the bright side, the student had a well situated in their compound and a generator which they sometimes powered at night, but was still faced with the problem of reading at night and smoothing his white shirt and black pants which was the uniform of the faculty.

"We had to pay 400 naira everyday for the first two weeks just to smoothen our clothes. Then we decided we couldn't keep on wasting money on that so we came up with a method of not squeezing the shirt after washing so as to retain a smooth shirt".

Concluding the interview with how the power outage affected him academically Mr Rauf revealed that he was a night reader and so throughout the 3 weeks he couldn't read.

Neverthess, the light was fully restored on Monday, March 9, 2022.