Residents and traders of Kingsgarden and Rigga Communities in Gwagwarwa ward, Nasarawa Local Government Area of Kano, have endured nearly three years without power supply after overload caused their transformer to break down.
The absence of electricity in the area has crippled business activities, with the locals and traders forced to spend money on petrol to power their generators.
The blackout has caused Adeyemi Deleyola, a Kingsgarden resident, to shut his cold room business for over two years.
“My cold room is no longer operating because there is no light. I'm an elderly person; that's where I get money, but things need to work more,” he says.
Deleyola's family has relied on his wife’s provision store ever since. Unfortunately, the store is unable to generate the N15,000 daily income he got from his cold room.
“Before, I made about 15,000 daily, but now, it is just by the grace of God that we are surviving," he adds.
Umar Sani Bala runs a welding business in Gwagwarwa. He recounts how his daily income has drastically dropped as he now depends on diesel.
“If I do a job that will get me N2,000, I may end up buying diesel for N1,250. Everything is no longer moving well.
"A job that gives me N10,000 could only give me N800 now. Everything is dry because there's no electricity.”
On his part, Abdul Sulaiman, a fabricator of cold rooms, appeared distressed during our visit. At his shop, we saw several fridges that his customers brought for repairs without a headway.
He has been relying on a power generator to repair the fridges, but the recent surge in the price of petrol is a major challenge. He says he could no longer afford the recent price of N1,100 per litre.
“You can see I have 18 units for more than two years in my meter. Business is no more moving. I bought these freezers three days ago, but I don't have money to buy fuel to work on them.
"When there was electricity, I made 15 to 30 thousand, but now you can manage to get N5,000," he laments.
Other residents are also lamenting over the hardship caused by the power outage in the area.
“Three good years without electricity, this is tiring,” says Victor Jonathan.
Comrade Godwin Iyaji revealed that he spends "thousands on fuel daily," just as he urged the government to do something about their situation.
In 2022, the only transformer in these communities broke down due to overloading.
After several complaints to the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) fell on deaf ears, the community, led by Umar Sani Bala, petitioned the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on 27 May 2023.
The NERC directed KEDCO to repair or replace the transformer within eight weeks, from 15 August 2023 to 10 October 2023. Despite this directive, KEDCO failed to restore power in the community.
After the expiration of time, the community issued another letter to NERC tagged “Re-Complaint For Electricity Outage For One Year In Rigga Community Gwagwarwa". Unfortunately, the DisCo has yet to address their plight.
KEDCO’s failure violates NERC’s consumer rights and obligation, which states that the repair or replacement of faulty electrical infrastructure should be done within 48 hours of official complaints.
However, Gwagwarwa community leader Isa Ali Gwagwarwa believes all hope is not lost, therefore appealing to relevant stakeholders to address their plight.
“We have been battling with this blackout for years now, and we have documented our plight to KEDCO and our political leaders," he says.
"They promise to address our plight, but nothing has been done. We want the government to assist us, if they can provide a transformer for us, we will appreciate it."
When contacted, KEDCO’s spokesperson, Sani Bala Sani, accused the community of engaging a private repairer to work on the transformer before informing KEDCO.
Sani also clarifies that “KEDCO later gave them a new transformer in January 2024, but it blew off again 30 days later."
Sani, however, promises that a “new transformer will be provided for them by the end of September.”
But when I visited the community in October, I observed that the transformer’s room was still under lock and key with no transformer in sight.
Umar Sani Bala revealed that the Landlords have visited the NERC’s office for an update on their transformer and were told to be patient.
In November 2013, the Federal Government engaged 11 private electricity distribution companies (Discos) for efficient services to meet the needs of electricity consumers.
Unfortunately, the DisCos have been struggling with meeting the power distribution needs of many Nigerians due to poor infrastructure, in addition to other daunting challenges in the entire value chain.
However, while these Kindsgarden residents have been running out of patience for about three years, they hope that KEDCO and other stakeholders will come to their aid as soon as possible.