Borno, Other Communities Hit By Long Power Range Amid Total Blackout

Posted by African Examiner African News, Featured, Latest Headlines, News, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Monday, February 1st, 2021

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Residents of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital and its environs have been hit by the persistent blackout following the destruction of one of the towers supplying electricity to the ancient city from the national grid.

Reports said the blackout, which has lasted for a week, has grounded many businesses relying on power. Even those operating on generators are managing to provide skeletal services.

Some residents condemned the action of the insurgents, who were believed to be the cause of the outage. However, they bemoaned the inability of the authorities concerned to restore the power.

“It’s now one week and most people don’t know why there is no electricity in Maiduguri.

“We need to know what caused it and efforts by the power company to address the matter.

“You can’t leave people in darkness without explanation,’’ an aggrieved resident, lamented.

An artisan, Moses Bala, complained that the outage has grounded his business because he solely depends on electricity from the national grid for his work.

“Because of steady supply over the months, I solely depend on power from the government and now that there is no power for one week; I remain out of business.

“I can’t afford a generator as I am still young in this business,’’ Mr Bala said.

He however appealed to the concerned authorities to expedite action to restore the power.

When contacted, the Corporate Communication Manager of Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) in charge of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Taraba states, Mr Kingsley Nkemneme said he could not comment because the problem has to do with Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

Nkemneme added: “The TCN is in a better position to comment on this as the problem is not about distribution but transmission’’.