Residents of Egbewa Community in Ado Ekiti, the capital city of Ekiti State on Saturday took to the streets to protest lack of electricity, deplorable situation of roads and turning of junctions in the community to refuse dump sites.
The residents who were mostly landlords and tenants took the advantage of the monthly environmental sanitation to express their displeasure to the state government and Ekiti State Electricity Distribution Company.
Protesters were seen blocking the entrance linking Falegan Area to NTA and GRA through Egbewa in Ado Ekiti and chanting different protest songs to express their displeasure and press in their demands.
They alleged the branch manager and some of the officials of the electricity distribution company of extorting monies from them.
When the scene of the protest was visited by PMParrot, it was observed that the protesters, running into hundreds were displaying placards and chanting different protest songs against the company and the state government.
Meanwhile, in an interview with the Landlords Association Chairman for the community, Mr. Olumide Okunade, he maintained that the community has been denied electricity for several years. “We were told our transformer got spoilt. We have written a formal letter to the government on various issues we are facing here but no response from them.
“We also wrote to the BEDC, they told us that there is no transformer on ground and said we should go and pay a percentage of what we owe. We have already paid all these percentages the BEDC told us to pay. They are now telling us that they have not taken the transformers from their Benin office,” he said.
On the issue of roads, Mr. Olumide Okunade said that roads in the community are too rough and are not motorable for the vehicles to ply. “Our vehicles can no longer ply the bad roads to anywhere. This is really a big problem for those of us living in the community. We have no good roads and no electricity,” he lamented.
The Chairman, therefore, called on the Ekiti State government to come to their aid in the community to fix all the roads that are in deplorable situation. “If it is possible for the government, they should also help us tar the roads, we will appreciate them.”
Also, Mr. Olumide Okunade complained on the issue of refuse being regularly dumped at the Egbewa Road 3 junction. He appealed to the Ministry of Environment to assist them to pack the refuse and as well provide refuse bins at the junctions of the streets.
Packaged by Emmanuel Adeniran
