The youths in Omu-Aran, Irepodun local government area of Kwara, on Friday, protested alleged outrageous billing and sudden movement of the community’s electricity billing regime from Band C to Band A.
The protesters, led by two of the community masquerades, gathered at Bareke roundabout in the metropolis as early as 8:00 am, carrying placards with various inscriptions amidst dancing and singing of war songs.
Some of the inscriptions on the placards read: ‘IBEDC Must Go,’ ‘Omu-Aran Say No to Band A,’ ‘Bring us Back to Band C,’ ‘Revert Omu-Aran to Band C.’ ‘Omu-Aran Youths Have Spoken Loudly’, among others.
The youths said that the sudden movement of the electricity billing from Band C to Band A was allegedly done by the newly posted Business Manager, Mr. A. O. Badmus, who was responsible for the outrageous bills received for the month of March in the community.
The people said that there were many unresolved challenges militating against uninterrupted electricity supply across designated areas of the community before the sudden movement of the billing regime from Band C to Band A.
The protesters, who were peaceful and orderly while the protest lasted, had rejected an attempt to be escorted by police personnel and some other security agencies.
The current charges on some of the electricity bills gathered by the youths during the protest were between the range of N41,000 to N47,000 for the month of March as against the old rate of between N10,000 to N15,000.
The protest took the youths to major streets in the community and designated areas such as the Olomu market, Latinwo market Area, Olomu palace, as well as the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC)’s District office located inside Omu-Aran City Complex.
The protesters also blocked some major highways leading to neighbouring states including Omu-Aran-Kabba highway as well as Omu-Aran-Otun-Ekiti highway which forced motorists and travellers to wait for hours.
They vowed to continue with the protest until their demands and grievances were addressed by IBEDC and the community leaders.
Some of their demands, according to a statement signed by the President Omu-Aran Development Association, Mr. Niyi Adeyeye, and the secretary, Elder Ranti Adebayo, included non-replacement of faulty transformers leading to irregular electricity supply in some key areas of the community.
Others are reversion of the billing from Band A to the previous Band C and improvement of electricity supply, suspension of Band A billings,, and review of the current charges to reflect the old billing regime.
Other demands included the conduction of an independent review of IBEDC service delivery in Omu-Aran to assess the appropriateness of the proper tariff regime classification, immediate stoppage of overdraft purchases on pre-paid meters as well as stoppage of electricity consumers purchasing materials for faulty electricity equipment.
The Olomu of Omu-Aran, Oba Abdulraheem Oladele Adeoti, while receiving the protesters in his palace appealed for calm, saying that the community leaders are already in discussions with IBEDC officials to address the issues.
He urged the youths to exercise restraints and wait for the outcome of the intervention by the community leaders.
When contacted on the development, Omu-Aran IBEDC Business Manager, Mr A. O. Badmus, said that he was not authorised to speak on the issue, adding that the IBEDC Kwara State Communication Officer, Mr. Gbenga Ajiboye, would give details.
Ajiboye, in his reactions, said the issue of electricity regulation remained the sole responsibility of the National Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC).
“They (NERC) are the one who does regulation, monitoring, and enforcement, there is nothing we can do on our own as far as regulation is concerned in the state,” he said.
He added that electricity consumers enjoying 20 hours of electricity supply are regulated by NERC to be on Band A, in which the Omu-Aran community is classified presently.
Ajiboye described the development as a business issue between buyers and sellers, noting that high-level discussions were already ongoing to resolve the issue amicably.
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