FESTAC c PROTEST: Two-month power outage

From:	COCE TV

We now sleep outside our homes, says 72-year-old woman

Senior citizens in FESTAC Town, Lagos joined other aggrieved resi­dents recently to protest a two-month power outage in the area. The resi­dents also lamented the arbitrary increase in their monthly electricity bill, coupled with the failure of the company to provide them with pre-paid metres.

The protesters defied the presence of a police patrol team and an early morning rain and marched to the office of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) at 23 Road, S Close, with their complaints, demanding a reversal of the outrageous billing and immedi­ate installation of pre-paid metres believed to be more customer-friendly. They accused the EEDC staff of rolling out estimated bills.

The residents carried several placards with inscriptions like: 'Enough is Enough', 'God hates darkness', "Pre-paid metre is the solution', 'Save our soul in FESTAC', Don't kill us with crazy bill' and others even as they sang songs and barricaded the entrance to the company.

Although the protest was largely peaceful, the residents lamented the N50,000 cost of pre-paid metres imposed on them by the company. The elderly ones reeled out their disappoint­ments with the services of the company, just as the youths threatened fire and brimstone against the company.

Fuming with rage, Alaba Ayodele, a resident in the area, said the company had turned them to cash cows with their outrageous bills, even when the area had been in darkness for the pas t two months. He said several requests made to the company to provide residents with pre-paid metres to checkmate arbitrary billing were deliberately ignored.

A 72-year-old woman, Alhaja Yakubu, said the situation has become intolerable. Accord­ing to her, some flats that got a bill of N4000 in December suddenly had their bills hiked to over N20,000 in January.

"The situation has been so bad. In Decem­ber, people go away from FESTAC for the holidays and we normally enjoy light. But after December, we have not had it easy at all. For weeks, we have been sleeping on the balconies, and our children sleep on the corridors because of the heat. The bills we receive are not what we consumed at all. The old metres are not being read but they kept bringing the bill," she said .

A member of the Lagos State House ofA s­sembly, Hon Sultan Adeniji- Adele, representing Amuwo-Odofin Constituency 1, who resides in the area, admitted that electricity supply in the area took a deep plunge in the past months .

"We see a lot of outrageous bills given to us . We don't have electricity, yet they bring outra­geous bills. Most of the people here are parents . They want to relax but the heat is too much" , he said.

He said people in other districts get the pre-paid meters at no cost, and wondered why those in FESTAC should be an exception. He explained that the company demanded N50,000 for the pre-paid metre for each house of flat .

"You find out that people living in a room apartment are given N20, 000 bill. Do they have bakery in the house? Do they have industrial equipment in the house? This is unfair. I think enough is enough," he said.

The President, Festival Town Residents Association, Shola Fakorede, told Daily Sun that several appeals made to the company to address their grievances were rebuffed.

"If you look round, majority of the people here are senior citizens. At their prime age, they are supposed to be resting. It is ungodly to bring out senior citizens out to protest. It is only in Nigeria that you see this kind of thing. It is very, very sad and appalling", he said.

Fakorede said they would take the protest further to the Lagos, Marina office of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company until their grievances were addressed. He insisted that pre-paid metres must be installed in the entire FESTAC area, without any charge as obtain­able in Ikeja and other parts of the country.

"People are being ripped off. Senior citizens that are supposed to be enjoying the fruits of their labour are losing their hard earned money in payment for services that were never rendered.

They are using the pensions that do not come regularly to pay bills. Nothing explains why residential homes should be given bills of N30,000, N20,000 and so on," he lamented.

Another resident, Ijeoma Mozie, recalled in anger how she paid N21,000 for a pre-paid metre in 2007 into a holding account, regretting that till date, nothing was given to her. She also parted with additional N5000 for the installa­tion at the power holding office.

"Last year, I brought the documents to the Senior Marketing Manager here. He opened the system and told me that the pre-paid metre had accumulated a total bill of N65,000. I asked him how the bill came since the com­pany was yet to give me the metre. He said they would stop the bill and asked me to bring additional N40,000. I left him and I have not gone to them since then," she explained.

While commending the protesters for remaining peaceful, the Commercial Manager of the company in, FESTAC, Mrs. Ogugua Veronica, said the management of the company would address the agitations of the residents.

"We are Nigerians. We are part of you. Your complaints have been noted. I have also communicated our management as soon as I saw you. The Public Relations Officer of the Company has also been informed and he would address all the requests you have made," she said.