PROTEST AT BENIN ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION COMPANY (BEDC)

Activities at the Benin Electricity Distribution Company was on Thursday temporarily grounded by protesting residents of Aerodrome Close, Egbebuya and Trade Fair communities, in the Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State, over what they described as epileptic power supply to the affected areas.

The protesters also shut out some staff of BEDC, many of whom hid their identity cards for fear of being identified by the angry youths.

It was learnt that the aggrieved residents, numbering over 50‎, arrived at the corporate headquartres of the power distribution company located along Akpakpava Road, as early as 6.30am.

While some of the men barricaded the major entrance to the company, the women ‎served others a meal said to have been prepared in front of the company.

Some policemen from the Oba Market Police Station were, however, at the scene to prevent the protest from becoming violent.

‎The residents lamented that while some of the streets in the affected areas had been denied steady power supply for several months, others did not enjoy the benefits of paying their bills, as the duration of electricity supply did not last beyond two hours daily.

The residents, who said the protest became necessary, after several complaints made to the electricity company had not yielded positive results, also vowed to continue their demonstration until their demands were met.

“We have not had power for about four months. This is our fourth time here; they had said that they would fix the problem but after some time, they refused to come and fix it.

“There is no functional refrigerator in the area. So, we have come for a peaceful demonstration. We used to pair with Airport road but we were later taken to Evbuotubu. We need our light restored,” one of the residents, Mr. Benson Imasuen, said.

Another resident, Frank Osas, wondered why the company insisted on collecting payment for services not rendered.

The spokesperson for the company, Mr. Curtis Nwadei, told our correspondent that while it was not possible to relocate the affected areas to another feeder due to overloading, the areas were also indebted to the firm.

According to him, Aerodrome close and Trade Fair comm‎unities owed the distribution company over N28m of unsettled electricity bills.

He, however, noted that the company was negotiating with the ‎residents to address the issues raised.

Nwadei said, “It is not true that they are not owing. The entire area is owing the ‎sum of N28,140,962.20k‎.‎ They want to be fed from a particular location, which is not possible‎; the location they want is grossly overloaded.