From Ben Dunno, Warri
About 500 women, resident in Effurun, headquarters of Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State, protesting alleged negligence by the management of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), yesterday, blocked the Effurun/Sapele road.
The women’s protest caused gridlock in and out of the commercial city for over three hours.
The protesting women (mostly traders and artisans) resident along the popular Alegbo Road, off the major PTI Road and other adjoining streets, trooped out of their homes as early as 7:00am with leaves and marched through some streets within the neighbourhood.
They later headed to the BEDC office along Effurun/Sapele Road where they blocked a major access road directly opposite the office and prevented vehicular movement, which caused gridlock.
Spokesperson of the protesting women, Mrs. Kehinde Ejebubor, lamented the terrible experience residents of the area had been subjected by BEDC in the past four months even with all the ‘self-help’ contributions made by the residents to officials, towards alleviating the hardship of non-electricity supply in the area.
“Over four months ago, our transformer was bad and BEDC did nothing about it for more than two months. Whenever we complained to them, they’ll tell us they do not have the materials to fix it. We resorted to self-help and we levied each building to contribute N500 which we gathered and handed over to BEDC officials to fix the transformers.
“Two months after fixing it, the situation did not improve.
To worsen the matter, all those months our transformer was bad and we were in blackout, they still brought their estimated bills. For me staying in a three bedroom apartment along Alegbo Road, they gave me N23,000 in one of those months our transformer was bad and we asked them how they arrived at the estimation when we never had power.
“Most of us you are seeing here protesting today are into one business or the other which rely on electricity. Some of us are hair dressers, some sell drinks and operate restaurants to assist our husbands at home but, we are being frustrated on daily basis, due to no electricity and we go as far as Ugbolokoso, Ugbomro, Uti and other places where there is regular power supply to buy ice blocks to run our businesses.
“We have been complaining and the BEDC management have turned deaf ears to our plight; that is why we decided to stage this peaceful protest, to register our grievances with the BEDC management in this area,” she stated.
It, however, took the concerted efforts of the council Chairman, Mrs. Stella Dobonor and the councillor representing Ward 1, Mr. Efe Ani, a prominent community leader, Mr. Godwin Ovorie in Alegbo and security operatives, before the women agreed to vacate the road, after the protesters were made to accept the agreement reached with the management of BEDC to meet with the community representative today.
Ani said he was satisfied with the conduct of the women all through the period the protest lasted as they conducted themselves in peaceful manner.
The council chairman said she would preside over a meeting, today, to ensure there is lasting resolution to the face-off between the affected community and the BEDC management.