By Ishaya Ibrahim
Paying for the sins of neighbours is now the fate of the residents of Itaji, a community off Haruna street, in the Ogba area of Lagos State.
For five months, they’ve been in a blackout because of the indebtedness of other electricity consumers.
In the area, businesses and households now run fully on generators. Those who can’t afford the alternative power supply can only endure the noise and fumes that come from the powerful engines.
According to the Community Development Association (CDA) chairman, Adeniyi Adigun, their problem started in August 2019 when their transformer became faulty.
“Instead of fixing the defective transformer, Ikeja Electric officials in the Idiagbon and Oregun undertaking offices removed the transformer and took it to their office as if they wanted to work on it. They now gave us a list of the people owing them and said until every one of them pays they would not return our transformer,” Adigun said.
On their part, the community mobilized its youth and went knocking on the doors of the debtors. Many responded and paid. Adigun said more than 70 per cent of the debts were paid off. But the Ikeja Electric officials in Oregun and Idiagbon undertaking office insisted on 100 per cent payment before their transformer could be returned.
He said those who came to seize the transformer ignored the fact that the majority of the residents were not owing while many are using prepaid metres.
Curiously, the head of corporate communication of Ikeja Electric, Felix Ofulue, justified the action of his colleagues.
“It is very straight forward now. How can I use the money from another community to fix your transformer when you are owing money? Pay what you owe so we can use it to fix your transformer as well. I’m robbing Peter to pay Paul. That’s what it means,” he said.
When told that people with prepaid metre and those who are not owing are also suffering for no fault of theirs, he continually defended the action of the officials.
“We owe an obligation to remit funds to the value chain. And the funds we remit to the value chain are the collections we get from the people that use our product. So, it is an obligation. You are compelled to pay for that product that you use.
“In cases where you do not pay for our product, we come into negotiation. But you will agree with me as I am speaking with you that one of the biggest challenges that we have in this sector is apathy to payment. People don’t want to pay their bills.
“Responsible paying communities are paying their money and I am using what they are paying to fix your transformer and you are staying aloof. You don’t want to do anything. How does it feel? Does it make any sense to you as a reporter who is asking me?” he said.
The community, has, however, written a protest letter to Ikeja Electric through its Oregun office.
“We noticed that the transformer serving our community (Itaji, Aganga, Folade and part of Haruna Street) had been removed for repairs since 7th October 2019 and has not been returned since.
“This has plunged the community into darkness and as a result, the security situation in the community has gone worst. It has also affected the commercial activities of the business in the environment. It has affected the financial capability of the people to pay their outstanding bills,” the letter reads. It was jointly signed by Adigun and Ezekiel Asogba, the community assistant secretary.
While the community insist that it amounts to injustice to punish another for a sin he did not commit, Ikeja Electric officials are deaf to that logic.
