By Jimitota Onoyume

As hoodlums have a field day
WHEN a Nigerian music star sang in a hit track, Generator wan scatter my ear, generator wan scatter my ear, he probably had Warri, the oil rich city of Delta State, in mind.

The area and several communities around lament the pitch darkness that has been their lot for a long time due to epileptic power supply. Particularly of concern is the fact that the situation has resulted in increase in crime around the oil rich city.

“We can hardly come out from 730 p.m because the hoodlums are everywhere looking for phones to snatch. And they take advantage of the epileptic power situation that has made the streets to be in darkness. Benin Electricity Distribution Company, BEDC, should do something to improve the power situation,” a resident of Ugbuwangwe said.

Giving consumers  right to choose

When Vanguard Spotlight contacted the Public Relations Officer of BEDC in Warri, Helen Ogagarue, she responded thus: “Vanguard, I will not talk to you. Kindly go to our office in Benin to see our manager”. She further declined to give the number of the manager, adding: “Just go to Benin. They are in a meeting there. One of your reporter betrayed my trust so I am sorry, I will not talk to you.”

Professor Jim Omatseye who also resides in Ugbuwangwe area of Warri South Local Government Area was really furious with the power situation. He described it as “bad, bad, bad. We hardly get electricity. It is so bad and no word from the DISCO, Benin Electricity Distribution Company, BEDC, on why it is this bad.”  Omatseye called on the federal government to evolve an arrangement that would give consumers right to choose which DISCo to connect to. He said,“I mentioned it in my interview with your paper   recently. The power situation is very bad. I don’t know, I had suggested that Fashola should put in place a system where you can choose which power company you want to do business with if one does not work well, you move to another. Those are the things that will make power companies sit up.

“Some days you don’t get the light. Some days it is three, four hours. One hour now and after about three hours you get it for another two hours. It is very bad in Ugbuwangwe. As a matter of fact, if I know when they will advertise for renewal of contracts for BEDC I am one of those that will say they should not be reawarded. The BEDC is very incompetent, they should discard with its services.”

We cant charge our phones, no power for our fridges to sell cold drinks

It is the same sad story around Cementery Road, Ogedegbe, Agbassa, Warri market down to NPA, Ginuwa. A female resident around Ginuwa who gave her name as Gift Owumi said they could hardly charge their phones because of the power situation, adding that in some cases barbing salons charged them one hundred naira to charge phones “when they are barbing peoples hair.” I spend N1500 daily on fuel to have cold drinks, sachet water for customers – Vendor 

Another resident who gave his name as Suru, said   most houses depend on their generators for power. A lady who operates a petty store told the Vanguard that she had to buy as much as one thousand five hundred naira fuel daily to have cold drinks and   sachet water for customers. “   I spend N1,500   now that petrol is N145 per litre to have cold drinks and cold pure water for customers. At the end of the day, I have nothing to call profit”, she said.

They should handover power to foreigners to manage   for us – Ekpoko

Residents of Ubeji area that ordinarily enjoyed the privilege of industrial line said the power collapsed for about two month until about a few days ago. One of the residents, Barrister Edward Ekpoko said it was unfortunate that nothing had changed since Nigerians took over management of power. “For about five days we had the light.

Industrial line in Ubeje

“We have industrial line in Ubeje with Jeddo and Ifie. They said Ubeji at a time had problem and there was no light for two months. In my office area in Cementery road, we have it only three hours daily.

“Nothing has improved. They are just sending estimated bills to those without prepaid meters. They (BEDC) have failed. With all the trillions of naira invested in the power sector since 1999 we can’t see the result. Nothing has improved. They have failed. Things are going from bad to worse if it has not already gone.

“The federal government should bring in the Chinese, and other good investors. Politicians cannot run the power sector. They extort the customers, that is the situation we find ourselves.  For the better part of last month there was no light in Cementery road, they brought estimated bill of forty thousand naira to my office. Where did we consume that amount? BEDC has failed. If you have fault with your transformer in your area you still buy the transformer and you pay them to come and install. What kind of exploitation is this. For Ubeji there was no light until recently.  I have never seen this kind of power situation in my life. In my office I spend a minimum of four thousand naira to run the generator every two days. And we try to reduce the expenditure by   putting off the fridges and airconditionners”, he said.

There is Bigman and Small man line for power in Warri – Ogbonnia

A human rights activist, Mr. Amaechi Ogbonnia, told the Vanguard that BEDC allegedly had a line for the rich and another for the poor in several areas of Warri. He alleged that for neighbourhoods to be linked to the ‘Bigman line’ they pay as much as two to three million naira. Ogbonnia said,“In this area we have what they call Big man line and the Small man line. On the Bigman line, you pay as much as two to three million naira to be linked to it. In my area, Ogunu we paid fifteen million naira because we were not getting light and they were giving us fictitious bills. Since we were not getting light we had to go for the Industrial line, a.k.a. Bigman line. Incidentally, we don’t have industries in this area. So you see the Bigman line thing.”

Vanguard gathered that the poor power situation extends to Aladja, Ogbe-Ijo, Agbarho main town, Eku in Ethiope East local government area and Abraka, the host town of the Delta State University.

We do not get up to 100 hours power supply in a month in Eku —Okpara

In Eku, residents said they only see electricity few days to the end of the month when BEDC goes round to drop electricity bills. “We don’t see the light. It only comes when they want to go round to drop electricity bills. BEDC is a gross failure and a fraud,” a resident, Chief Polycarp Okpara said.

According to Chief Okpara, most parts of the community did not enjoy power for up to 100 hours in the month of March. “We are helpless, nobody to cry to. We are just exploited because they come with outrageous bills every time for us to pay for service we did not enjoy,” he said.

Outrageous bills  every time

Residents of Okuokoko, Ogbolokposo told the Vanguard they enjoyed a fairly stable power. “The power is stable here, we see it sometimes, 17 or 19 hours daily. We really don’t grumble that is why there is influx of people to these areas,” a resident in Okuoko said.

Patronage is low, we are hungry —Welders

A welder who spoke to the Vanguard around Marine Gates area of Warri, Mr. Andrew said patronage was low because of price. He said, “we are forced to charge as much as four thousand naira to construct protector for a window because we spend all the money on diesel for our job. No power, we hardly see the light, and customers are grumbling over our prices.”

It is worst for us doing frozen fish, chicken business — Madam Mary 

“We depend entirely on our diesel generator to remain in business. I live in Jakpa area of Warri. The power situation here is very bad. We beg for improvement.”

The noise from generators is felt in almost all parts of Warri and environs. Truly the Nigerian musician captured the Warri situation with his generator wan burst my ear, ra ra o. The noise pollution is unbearable but residents have no choice but to live with it so they could enjoy minimum comfort of modern civilization like getting their phones fully charged, refrigerating their consumables for few hours and so on. May be only foreign investors can remedy the ugly situation as Chief Barrister Ekpoko suggested.