INVESTIGATION: Kwara Residents Live In Darkness Ten Years After, As Ministry, Contractor Fail To Deliver Transformers

By Fatimah Idera

For almost ten years and counting, communities in Kwara State have continued to live in darkness with adverse effects on their r lives and businesses as the Ministry of Power and the contractor who was awarded N44.5 million for the installation of transformers have failed to deliver. FATIMAH IDERA reports:

For almost ten years, Mr. Tiamiyu Tajudeen, an electrician based in Oke Andi in Ilorin Kwara State, has struggled with uninterrupted darkness, which has stalled his vocation, which relies heavily on power supply.

Consistent power outages resulting from the unavailability of transformers have made his services costlier than he would have wished.

“You can’t compare electricity with alternative power. Our not having electricity supply has greatly affected my pricing because my work here has been 99% reliant on generators for years,” he told this reporter.

When this reporter visited the area in June 2024, residents and business owners explained that they had only had electricity supply roughly three times a year for the past five years.

Another resident of Oke Andi, Kamoru Bello, whose daily life had been affected by the blackout, explained that he could not remember the last time he used his television or any household appliance that would have made his life better.

“It is like I am no longer in this world because I certainly don’t know what goes on around me. I can’t charge phones, I can’t work remotely, and fuel prices are unbearable for alternative power.

The bad transformer

“It has been so long since we have had light. Those who have light to use stabilizers, fans, and machines in their homes might have issues and bring them for repair at the rewinder shop, but for those who don’t make use of their appliances, they won’t,” Tiamiyu added.

Electricity plays a huge part in our everyday lives especially our daily routines which rely heavily on the use of electricity.

Electricity not only plays a big part in our daily lives at home, but it is extremely important for all the things that go on in the world around us that we depend on like communication, transportation and several others as this power generally comes from electricity.

Mr Tiamiyu at his shop Photo: Fatimah Idera

The Shady Contracts

It is hard to quantify how improved the lives of residents in this community would have been if the N44.5 million awarded for the Installation of Transformers at Oke Andi, Ita Nmo, and other communities in Kwara State in 2022 were duly spent.

The Ministry of Power approved the contract and put its supervision under the Rural Electrification Agency(REA).

No new transformer was supplied or installed for the community’s use. When the load was too much on one of the available transformers which made it blow up, residents said they contributed funds to fix it themselves.

The Federal Government consolidated project contract was awarded to Scotben Nigeria Ltd. But the company’s name could not be found during checks on the Corporate Affairs Commission web portal. A further search on NG-Check.com revealed that the company was established and registered on August 28 2013 and had Sunday Ajayi and Egbet Nathaniel as the directors. As a private limited company located in Abuja, several searches revealed that it is not active online, neither did any of the names of the directors pop up in searches online.

Screenshot of the contractor’s dormant details

This reporter tried to contact former senator representing Kwara central, AbdulRaheem Yahaya Oloriegbe, who facilitated the project, via phone call, and sent several messages and emails, but none were responded to.

Resident Narrate Ordeal

Mubarak Sanni, a mechanic/appliance service technician and a resident of Oke Andi, said he had spent a lot of money on buying petrol at a high cost to test the appliances he had worked on, which had led to an increase in his costs.

“The last time they brought light was four months ago; this year, we have been given light just once. We need new transformers, which can help relieve the workload of the old ones. There are several times I will succumb to using my ‘i better pass my neighbor’ (small generator), which cannot even carry some engines.

“Our transformer is faulty because it is the one that brought light to the community. The last time the transformer blow, we the community members are the ones who contributed money to repair it,” he revealed

Another resident of the affected area, Mrs Ghazali Zaynab who sells drinks at Ita Nmo lamented how the power outage contributed to her business loss.

“I have several drinks in my fridge to sell but there is no electricity, and I don’t have a generator as an alternative. This darkness contributes to hunger and poverty among we the residents, as I found it hard to sell my goods and feed my children,” she lamented.

Transformer at Oke Andi

He noted that they would be very glad if a new transformer was installed in Oke Andi community as well as if stable electricity supply is made available to improve their businesses and put an end to insecurities in their community.

Bloomberg reported that households in Nigeria spend $12 billion on alternative and self generated power for about nine hours daily and to operate their businesses.

The World Bank noted that only 57 percent of the country’s 200 million population have access to electricity. While just 31 percent of people living in the country’s rural areas have access to electricity.

According to a report, statistical data further shows that over 40 per cent of households in Nigeria own and use generators for their daily electricity requirements. This implies that impacted households spend about $14 billion annually on generator fueling due to insufficient power supply from the national grid.

The Ministry of Power was also sent mails and several calls were put across to the contacts available on its website but none was responded to as at the time of filing this report.

The Rural electrification agency was also sent an FOI which was responded to via mail that they would get back to this reporter but no responses was received as at the time this report was filed

Expert weighs in

Speaking on the issue, an energy and electricity expert, Mr. Olubunmi Martins, the CEO of G3 Roundtable, explained that the power sector was one of the most fragile but susceptible to corruption in the country.

“We now run a system in the power sector where residents have to buy and install transformers. For this particular project in question, according to you, you have tried to get both the government and the contractors to speak but they aren’t. What this tells us and everyone that cares to listen is that they have either not disbursed funds or the company is not a functional one”.

According to him, “the realistic solution to this neglect is for the community to constitute a Community Development Association (CDA) to negotiate with the DisCos on the issue of Transformers because this project won’t see the light of day.”

This story was produced with support from the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability Project (CMEDIA) funded by the MacArthur Foundation