Epe, Lagos State: The people in Epe local government had cried out because of total blackout of electricity in their local government. Epe local government is one of the biggest local government in Lagos state,and it is located on the North side of Lekki Lagoon.
Epe local government is a small town of 181,409 people, but had been abandoned by all Lagos state government, the town which had produced prominent people in Lagos state still lives in the shadow of itself. It is currently the worst part of Lagos state.
One of the prominent people from Epe is Honourable Adeyemi Ikuforiji, the speaker of the house of Assembly. This does not make the people of Epe enjoy the steady power supply in the state.
A lot of publications had been sent and also pleas to the state government, but none of this had been put into action, a lot of industries and companies had folded up due to the mirage happening in the local government. Also, all businesses that need electricity had needed to move to Ibeju, lekki or Ajah while some had moved to Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.
Epe local government had been deceived before when the past administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu promised the local government of an airport and also develop the local government than he met the place, unfortunately, nothing was done throughout his first four years in office. When he needed to be re-elected, he came to the town with mobile recharge cards, free cassette player of his administration praises and throwing money into the air. He had used the illeteracy of the community to deceive the community and was re-elected.
In June 2, 2012, Nigeria Vanguard released a publication with title " Epe, a community where electricity is a mirage", also Spyghana released another publication with "Epe residents lament year-long blackout" , and Nigeria News day newspaper "Epe Community Lagos, Celebrates 3 Christmas Without Light".
Since the publication, the people of Epe local government are yet to enjoy one of the dividends of democracy, they had instead been using a generator tagged "I better pass my neighbour". A lot of people had complained about this electricity epilepsy.
Speaking to a man as i ride my way to Ita-opo, a street in Epe, the young man in his thirties told me that the electricity problem in the town had made him close down his barbing saloon where he work with his wife. He said that the money to get gas is getting more expensive and he is running at a loss, therefore, he decided to be a bike-rider to survive and put food on the table. When I asked him how he feels about people like Adeyemi Ikuforiji not coming to their help, the man said, the man is just from the town and does not live in town. Whenever he is around , he has a power generator running 24/7. So he does not care what happens in town, he is disappointed that such person that would have been useful in this time of need is completely useless.
Ebenezer, a resident of Epe confirmed the news, he said that Epe people are abandoned by the government. Sir, we have to pay for the electricity we don't use, this is what is most annoying in this case, the electricity comes for 5 mins in a month and we won't see it again for another 6 months. This is ridiculous and we hope Governor Raji Fashola would be able to fix this issue before he leaves office.
A mechanic along Cele junction in Epe said that, We had electricity for 5 mins last week, Epe power supply is not poor, it is completely bad. He said that the APC members had been trying to fix the bad power supply, but some hoodlums of PDP broke it down again. This is not a confirmed news as our reporter claimed that this might be exaggerated, but our teams in Epe local government are monitoring the situation.
Epe Local government also is the location of the Lagos State University Campus (Epe Campus) which houses the Engineering students, social works and other programmes. This is a blow to LASU students as they are not able to enjoy electricity in the campus, the school generator either provides for them poor electricity or not working. How do we produce sound engineers in this erratic power supply situation.
Epe local government people had confirmed that Honourable Adeyemi Ikuforiji had failed them, but are now producing a new governor under the platform of All progressive congress. Should Epe people believe in the governance of Akinwunmi Ambode who is from Epe Local Government? Will he end the year long suffering of power issues in the forsaken local government of Lagos state?
Our team here at Doy News plan to write an email to Mr Segun Jamiu Agbaje, Epe local government chairman and relevant people in the local government, Governor Tunde Fashola would receive a copy of the news as well. The people of Epe local government deserve the dividends of democracy, they deserve electricity.
