Residents of Saint John of God Mission Road Awka and other neighbouring streets have staged a peaceful protest to the Awka office of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) over a total blackout for three months.
The protesters who chanted their grievances marched from Saint John of God Road to the EEDC office along Zik Avenue Awka.
The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions including, “EEDC give us light, “EEDC where is our transformer, “No light for three months now ” among others.
The protesters were received at the EEDC office by the Head of Operations of the Company, Engineer Nwachukwu Obinna.
The spokesperson for the group, Mr. Chuks Igwilo said that the area including Saint John of God Road, Enukora street, Ilora Street, Nwoye Close, some parts of Emma Nnaemeka Street and other adjoining Streets have remained in total darkness for three months.
Mr. Igwilo lamented that this has subjected the residents, including the elderly people and children to untold hardship because they no longer have easy access to water supply for daily use while socioeconomic activities have been completely paralyzed
He regretted that officials of the EEDC who carried away their transformer did not tell residents of the area what was wrong with it and had failed to return it more than three weeks after they took it away, and made it clear that the people were no longer ready to endure the hardship.
Also speaking, another resident of the area, Barrister Fred Udensi said that the visit was to confirm from EEDC the present status of the transformer, and when it would be reinstalled to end sufferings residents of the area are going through.
Contributing, another resident, Mr. Chidi Gabriel noted that the transformer is old and was carrying excess load and suggested that it should be upgraded from the present 300KVA to 500KVA capacity while efforts should also be made to put separators on the high-tension wires to prevent bridging which he noted also affects the transformer.
Responding, the Head of Operations of the Company, Engineer Obinna thanked the group for their peaceful conduct and disclosed that he was recently posted to the Awka office and was not aware of the development and assured that the transformer will receive immediate attention to establish whether it could still be repaired or replaced with new one while the company will also look into other issues raised by the group and ways of ensuring prompt maintenance of facilities in the area, urging them to also maintain prompt payment of electricity bills.
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