The epileptic state of the power infrastructure has created an environmental nightmare around communities in the Ibeju-Lekki Local government area of Lagos state. Almost every family has a power generating set to light up their homes, watch television, to pump water from boreholes, and perform other tasks. The situation is so bad that in some buildings, as many as 10 generating sets could be found within a radius of five metres.
NatureNews.Africa reports that the residents decry the poor supply of electricity by the DisCos and lament how it negatively affects them and their businesses.
A resident of Oribanwa called Bilqees Alao laments that the poor electricity supply is affecting her productivity in business.
“I have been spending so much to run my generator and it is very stressful on my business. All they do is flash the light and take it again after a few minutes. After another three or more hours they will repeat it. And in some cases, that’s be all we would receive for that day, till another 2days time, and they want us to continue to pay for services not rendered.” She said.
“ it is not fair how we are being treated on this axis afterall there is light in ikoyi, Lagos island, Victoria island. But here from Abijo to Awoyaya to Bogije, we don’t have light. Before they said people are not paying light bill so we should get prepaid metre, now many people struggle to get the prepaid metre, but the situation remain the same. She added.
“The noise we live in here is unimaginable. People don’t even care about others living around them. They just care about the own comfort, and it’s not their fault, it’s the government that put us in the condition of constant noise” jimoh Ajayi, an Awoyaya resident said.
The poor supply of electricity has led most homes, offices and shops to run mostly on generators.
Aside the noise and pollution they emit, they also constitute health hazards. As most health experts have warned, fumes from generators, like those from car exhausts, are deadly. The fumes contain carbon monoxide, a poisonous, invisible and odourless gas. When inhaled, carbon monoxide replaces oxygen in the tissues and can easily lead to death.
According to experts the signs on the victims are dizziness, nausea, headache, even confusion, symptoms mistakenly attributed to too much alcohol or something else. That explains why the story of people who sleep at night with their generators on without waking up the next morning has become commonplace. Besides, exposure to moderate and high levels of carbon monoxide over a long period of time has been linked with an increased risk of heart disease.
The Lagos State Government in November announced a partnership with the African Development Bank, United States Agency for International Development and National Rural Electric Cooperative to bring about a stable power supply to communities in Ibeju-Lekki.
The Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Olalere Odusote, in a town hall meeting urged residents of Ibeju-Lekki to cooperate with the government and all its partners in order to attain the goal of the initiative.
“The engagement is an opportunity to constitute a steering committee for the post-Lekki electric co-operative. The power model will bring about a new narrative in power supply to residents of Ibeju-Lekki, as a result of the state government’s partnership with AfDB, USAID, and NRECA international with the backup of Eko Electricity Distribution Company and Ikeja Electric Distribution Company to guarantee stable power supply within the communities.
“The entire expenses needed to rehabilitate power supply to the communities will be provided by AfDB under a cooperative arrangement with the support of USAID and NRECA.” Odusote said.
While this will improve the lives and boost the economic growth of Ibeju-Lekki communities, as business owners and all households within the communities would pay less for electricity, as well as live healthily, the government must ensure it keeps to it’s promise and fast track the initiative to save the residents from generator hazards.
