Residents protest ‘diversion’ of electricity as darkness envelops Benin City

By Jethro Ibileke

Residents of parts of Benin City, the Edo State capital, on Monday protested several weeks of power outage and alleged diversion of electricity to companies operating in other parts of the City.

The protest halted human and vehicular movements for several hours as the protesters blocked the major highway leading into and outside the state capital, resulting in several hours of gridlock.

Mostly affected by the protest was Idokpa Community, in Aduduwawa and other areas.

Travellers who were commuting either to the north or to the south, were also stranded as the protesters said they would not leave the road until the media and government officials come to the area to address them.

A resident who gave her name as Doris, said that the outage has impacted their businesses negatively and they were hoping to draw attention to their plight through the protest.

She accused the Benin Electricity Distribution Company of diverting power meant for the community to another area. She said what is most painful is that the next community has steady power supply.

She called on the BEDC to restore power to the area as the suffering of the residents was becoming unbearable.

She said: “We are doing this protest because of the power outage that has crippled our businesses. We are sure that blocking the road will bring attention to our plight.

“We are that the power that is suppose to be given to our community has been diverted to other places and this is not acceptable by us. We call on the BEDC to reverse this.”

Also speaking, another resident who gave his name simply as Gideon, said they would not open the road until they were addressed by top government official and given coverage by the media.

He noted that they cannot continue to live in darkness while others enjoy electricity.

A stranded traveler who gave his name as Hassan, said he was going to Kaduna and he has been stranded on the road the whole day. He noted that this was a wrong time to block a major highway under the guise of protest.

Hassan appealed to the residents to open the road so that those travelling to far areas can continue their journey.

A BEDC official who asked not to be named, told journalists on phone that the outage was not delibrate.

“The power outage being experienced in some parts of Edo is not deliberate. It has to do with the shortage of gas that is used to generate power,” he added.