Youths of Ondo town in Ondo West Local Government area of Ondo state took to the street on Monday as they marched against what they described as the poor and exploitative services of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) in the community.
The Youths who stormed the company’s headquarters in the community very early in the morning barricaded the entrance into the building and placed it under conventional and traditional locks and keys.
The protesters then proceeded as they march across the community. They visited other facilities owned by the power distribution company and enforced their closure with traditional materials.
The Youths who were led by their president, Engineer Folajogun Kayode accused BEDC of exploiting them through poor service delivery while they get exorbitant bills which do no match their usage.
They claimed that embarking on the protest became a necessity because the power distribution company had refused to listen to their calls for improvement in their services and to stop exploiting the people.
The Youths President, Mr. Kayode Folajogun described the activities of BEDC in the community as pushing residents into abject poverty and inflicting pains and suffering on them daily.
He said “We are tired of their activities in this community. That is why we are out here protesting. That is why we have locked their offices. We are getting huge bills regularly but cannot enjoy electricity regularly. It has been over two months since rainstorm destroyed around forty-nine poles in some streets. We have written countless times to them. Our king and chiefs have held meetings with them but they refused to take steps that will stop this suffering.
“They keep denying us regular power supply and giving us estimated bills. Until they work on our demands, we don’t want them in our community. They should not take their bills to any street in this community. We will no longer pay their bills until they attend to our demands.
“We have locked all their offices in our community until they repair those cables and poles, energize our transformers, stop distributing exorbitant bills and increase power supply to every nook and cranny of the community.”
A protester who identified himself as Yemi accused BEDC officials of demanding for the sum of two million naira to reconnect a vandalized transformer.
“We have been suffering in Alex Akinyele axis for more than two years now. Our transformers was vandalized by unknown persons and we have been in total darkness since then. After a while, we were able to get another transformer through Honourable Abiola Makinde. The transformer was installed and even fortified.
“Everything had been done. When we were expecting electricity to return to our homes, the BEDC officials demanded for the sum of two million nair me which we must pay before they can complete the project. The transformer has been there since then. It has been more than seven months now and they have refused to reconnect us because of their demands.”
The Youths promised to keep the facilities locked until the company yields to their demands and improve their services in the community.
