Asaba residents lament power outage, repeated transformer contributions Moronfolu Adeyemi

Residents of Fear God Street, Bonsaac, Asaba, Delta State, have accused the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) and members of the community electricity committee of leaving them without power after several failed attempts to repair a faulty transformer.

The residents alleged that they had contributed millions of naira towards the repair and replacement of electricity transformers in the area but remained without power months after the latest repair.

They also alleged that residents were being asked to make fresh contributions towards the purchase of a new 750KVA transformer.

However, the Chairman of the Bonsaac 1 Transformer Committee, Mr Michael Morah, denied collecting or diverting money from residents, saying all contributions for the new transformer were being paid into the community’s bank account.

Morah, in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Monday, said the transformer eventually failed on July 25 after previous attempts to repair it.

According to him, the community contacted the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and other relevant authorities but received no response, prompting residents to raise funds for a replacement transformer.

“I disagree. I’m not extorting money from anybody. Nobody is paying money to me. Where they are paying money is to the community account,” Morah said.

He said the community had previously operated an account which became inactive but was later reactivated to receive contributions for the new transformer.

Morah also disputed claims that residents were levied N4.8 million and N5.3 million for two separate repairs.

“We didn’t levy anybody to pay.

“We levied those who have connected light and have not paid.

“In the meeting, it was decided that they should go to those people and collect money and use it to repair their transformer,” he said.

The committee chairman challenged anyone claiming to have personally paid him for the repairs to provide evidence of such payment.

Amid growing complaints over the handling of funds and the leadership of the transformer committee, the community constituted a panel to investigate the allegations against Morah.

The Chairman of the committee, Mr Okolo Gred, said the panel had completed its report but it had yet to be formally considered because Morah had not called a meeting to deliberate on it.

“The committee came up with their report, but the chairman, which is Michael Morah, has not been able to call for a meeting.

“If he had called for a meeting, that report would have been deliberated and maybe adopted,” Gred said.

He said some residents were also demanding that Morah step aside after allegedly remaining chairman of the transformer committee for more than a decade.

“Personally, and some members of the community, what we are interested in is not necessarily to programme to make him to permit what he has eaten, but for him to step down so that another set of people would be elected,” he said.

Gred said residents had continued to call for Morah’s removal and a fresh election, but the process had stalled because no meeting had been convened to consider the committee’s findings.

He also alleged that there were other complaints surrounding the committee’s activities, including claims relating to payments made by people seeking electricity connections.

He, however, said the immediate concern of residents remained the restoration of electricity following the latest transformer failure.

The controversy comes as residents have begun another round of contributions to purchase a new transformer.

A message circulated among residents showed that the community was targeting a new 750KVA transformer, with contributions fixed at different rates for property owners and businesses.

Under the contribution schedule, duplexes are to pay N50,000, flats N25,000, shops and self-contained apartments N12,500, while filling stations and bars are expected to contribute N100,000 each. Schools and churches were also listed among the contributors.