PEOPLE living at Academy, Odo-Ona Elewe, Mosafuento communities, have cried out over what they described as deliberate punishment that is being meted to them by the management of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in Oyo State.The residents of these communities, in their save-our-soul message which they said was meant for both the Oyo State government and the top hierachy of PCHN in the state, lamented that there is no life in the commu-nities while business activities had also collapsed in the area due to instability of electricity in the communities.The people also said that men of the underworld had started visiting Academy and Odo-Ona Elewe areas since they discovered that the environment was always in darkness every night.When Community News visited Academy area to verify the claim of the residents, it was discovered that many people in the areas both young were not happy with the PHCN. A resident of the area, Mr Biodun Oloketuyi told Community News that the transformer distributing electricity to the area was very weak due to overload, adding that they had complained the management of PHCN in charge of the area, but what the PHCN staff always told us was that we are coming to rectify it, whereas, nothing had been done since last year.He also said that despite their plight, the staff of PHCN kept bringing what he described as crazy as unjustifiable bills for the residents of the area to pay.A landlord in the area, Alhaji Fatai Salawu, castigated the management of PHCN in charge of Academy area, stressing that they dont have human feelings.On why he made such a statement, he replied how can some people who know what to do decide to abandoned their duties and responsibilities, thus allowing members of the public to be suffering. We had visited their office on several occasions to call their attention to the instability of electricity in Academy area, but they had not responded. But the only thing they know how to do was for their staff to move round the community with ladders, threatening people that they will cut peoples electric cables. How can we be paying for services not provided If care is not taken, these PHCN people would sabotage the effort of President Goodluck Jonathan towards ensuring stable electricity in the country, he warned.At Odo-Ona Elewe community, the complaint of the residents of the community was similar to that of Academy people.A resident of the area, Mrs Yemisi Adeleke, who said she was a Secondary School Teacher in Ibadan, said they were fed up with low-voltage electricity being supplied to the area by PHCN.In her words, there is a disturbing noise in the area because every household had resorted to the use of generating set. We have low voltage almost every time and we cannot do anything with that kind of electricity supply. We want PHCN to reduce the load on the transformer serving people of this area and this they can do by giving us over head portable transformer that is now in vogue in areas like Felele, Challenge and some other communities in the city.Residents of Mosefuneto in Ibadan, also wanted PHCN in the area to improve on their services. A student of University of Ibadan residing in the area, Sade Adebayo, told Community News that they had no cause to praise the management of PHCN in the area because the residents were not enjoying the services they pay for every month.
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