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Omotosho: Ondo Community With Two Power Stations, Yet No Electricity In 15 Years by iluvdonjazzy: 7:37am On Feb 26, 2017 |
Omotosho: Ondo community
with two power stations, yet no
electricity in 15 years
Even with two power stations, Omotosho, a
sleepy rural community along the bustling
Lagos-Benin expressway in Okitipupa Local
Government Area of Ondo State, lament
decade-long darkness. The sprawling
Omotosho power stations, Phase 1 and II
contribute a significant volume of electricity to
the national grid, but the host community has
lived in total darkness for close to two
decades. Taiwo Adebulu visited the community
and reports.
BENT with her huge back facing the entrance,
the plump short woman struggles to control
the black pot from falling off the iron tripod
stand as she withdraws some pieces of wood
from the flaming fire. The wooden shanty,
where she sells food items beside the motor
park, was engulfed in thick smoke.
Intermittently, she stands to wipe streaming
sweat off her face and adjust her wrapper. It
took the efforts of some young men beside the
shop to call her attention to this reporter’s
request to sit in front of her shop while
waiting for one of the chiefs to ferry him to the
palace. Deepening her frown, she stood right
and asked the reporter his mission to the
palace. On hearing that it had to do with the
darkness that had enveloped the community
for more than a decade, her eyes widened with
excitement. Her rotund face shows a woman
whose fair complexion had been altered by
constant exposure to heat. She hurriedly
packed the vegetables from the long wooden
bench and pleaded with the reporter to sit and
hear her side of the story first.
Angelina Adekunle began. “The last time we
saw light in this community was more than
fifteen years ago. Then, I was just a slim little
girl. Now, that’s like eternity. We have
transformers, wires and poles everywhere but
they are not active. We dry our clothes on the
wires. When the government brought two
power stations to our community, we were
really happy. We thought the darkness was
over. Unfortunately, nothing has changed. We
are condemned to darkness.
“This age-long darkness is affecting my
business. Just go to the back of my shop. You
will see where my freezer is rotting away
because there is no light to power it. There is
no way I can preserve food items. We have to
go to neighbouring towns in Ogun State to buy
ice blocks to chill drinks for our travelling
customers. Most of the time when they stop
by, they have to manage the hot drink or
sachet water we offer or just drive pass. We
sell a bottle of 35cl coke at N120 or more and
N20 for a sachet of water.”
The pitiable tale of this petty trader typifies
the cruel torture and excruciating pain
members of Omotosho community pass
through everyday under the pangs of darkness
that has submerged them for years. Omotosho
is a small agrarian town along the Lagos-
Benin expressway in Okitipupa Local
Government Area of Ondo State. Due to its
strategic location along a federal express road,
there is a beehive of commercial activities at
the entrance to the town. Billows of smoke
stream out of big aluminium pots to the sky,
while hawkers give vehicles energetic chase to
peddle food items. But inside Omotosho is a
ghost town. With less than fifteen thousand
inhabitants, the people seem rather restricted
to their homes, peeping out occasionally to
watch traffic in and out of town. Even the
central motor park appears deserted. But for
the two massive power generation stations
established by the federal government in the
community, Omotosho would have been
destined for oblivion.
The genesis of the power stations
After the Federal Government started a total
restructuring of the power sector in 1999, with
the aim of providing reliable power to the
citizens, successful attempts were made to
establish more power plants in order to
increase the low capacity being generated and
meet the high demands of Nigerians.
Fortunately, one was sighted in Omotosho in
2006. The people gave out their land willingly
in anticipation for a better life in a beautifully
illuminated town. The then president, Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo, was on ground to
commission the Phase One of the project in
2007. They brought out drums and trumpets
to celebrate their new baby and their joy knew
no bounds. The Phase One is an eight open-
circle gas turbine power plant with a design of
350 Megawatts capacity. In a recently
conducted capacity test carried out by the
Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET), it
was certified that the company generates 95
percent of its installed capacity. When the fun-
fair ended and the former president left, the
company started operations in no time, and
members of the community waited endlessly
for the restoration of electricity to their town.
When there seemed to be no light at the end
of the tunnel, the community started writing
letters to the power station to demand for
their right. Efforts were made by the late
monarch of the community, Oba Adefioye
Obolo to wake the company up to their
corporate social responsibility to the
community. On several occasions, the youths
trekked to the power station to demand
electricity for their community; they were
dispatched with promises that were never
honoured. Eventually, they were told to wait
for the second phase which was designed to
cater for the community.
In 2012, the Phase II was commissioned by
former President Goodluck Jonathan. Once
again, the people trooped out with ceremonial
splendour to mark the birth of the second
phase, which had been purportedly designed
to feed the community. Relief has finally come,
they thought. The Omotosho Phase II also has
four powerful open circle gas turbines with 500
Megawatts capacity. According to an insider,
only two of the turbines work effectively due to
inadequate gas supply, hence it hardly
generates the required capacity of power. In
all, the first and second phases generate 850
Megawatts.
However, in November 2013, during the
privatisation of power plants in Nigeria, Phase
One was sold to Pacific Energy Ltd. In this
regard, the attention of the community shifted
to Phase II which is still fully owned by the
federal government. Behind the two power
stations is a cleared expanse of land, said to
be the proposed site of a third phase.
Poles, wires, transformers everywhere, but no
light
Few days to the groundbreaking
commissioning, provisions were hurriedly
made to lighten up the community before the
arrival of the president. Electrical contractors
and engineers were everywhere erecting poles,
connecting wires and fixing transformers at
every walking distance. Since none of them
were converted to use after installations, the
mini-transformers have now become brooding
nests for birds. Huge pylons pass through the
heart of the community from the power
stations where it transmits electricity to other
states.
A food vendor whose open shop sits beneath a
transformer and a labyrinth of high-tension
wires, Mrs Sade Omoboye, plied her trade
unperturbed by the hanging danger. When
asked if she doesn’t feel insecure cooking
under a transformer, she wheezed instantly.
“Since its installation years ago, it has been
useless. Electricity has never come near it. So,
I won’t let that affect my business.”
The abandoned power projects
Meanwhile in 2008, barely two years after the
commissioning of the first phase, the cries of
the people yielded a positive result. A sub-
station was constructed in Omotosho to step
down electricity for the community use. A civil
contractor, who handled part of the project,
told the reporter in confidence, “We started the
civil work but it stopped due to paucity of
fund. After Phase II was commissioned by the
president in 2012, we resumed to work and
finished the civil work. The electrical work
started immediately. Poles were erected from
the substation to the Phase II power station.
They needed about 450KVA circle breaker for
the final installation. This was said to have
cost millions of naira, which the power station
insisted was not in its capacity to provide. So,
the project stopped.”
Investigations by this reporter on a visit to the
substation revealed that the project had been
abandoned totally and the equipments were
totally weather-beaten. The situation is further
worsened with the theft of the wires and
vehicles ramming into the poles.
Opposite the substation is a proposed
transmission station which was reportedly
designed to serve the community and other
parts of the country. This reporter negotiated
his way through the thick bush and scaled the
perimeter fence to behold the sight of about
six huge industrial containers, said to contain
electrical equipments worth millions of naira
totally neglected in the jungle for the past
three years.
A long-running battle
At the palace of the Oluoso of Omotosho, His
Royal Highness, Christopher Ogungbemi, the
newly installed monarch expressed his
dissatisfaction with the terrible state of
electricity supply (non supply, really) in the
community and the negligence of the
management of the power stations towards
their plight. He said, “Since former President
Olusegun Obasanjo came to commission the
first phase, we’ve been hoping to see the light
shine in Omotosho. But that is not the case.
We wanted to fight but we decided to meet
with them as peace-loving people. They told
us to rest that they would give us light.
Anytime we reach out to them through
diplomatic means, they end up playing pranks
on us with empty promises. I feel so
concerned about the situation. I iron my
clothes the local way by using the metal iron
filled with red hot coals. But this shouldn’t be
so. We do not deserve this with the fact that
we have given out our land to them.
Mr. Olusanmi Tobase, lawyer to the late
monarch of Omotosho, said he wrote some
letters to the company to demand for the
execution of power projects as part of their
corporate social responsibility. However, since
then, the company has been foot-dragging on
providing electricity to the community.
According to him, the company said, “It’s the
government’s responsibility, not theirs, yet
they operate in the community.”
While speaking with the Managing Director,
Mr. Samuel Itsekiri, an engineer, at the power
station, said that the company has an ongoing
project to light up the community. He said,
“It’s a practice in the power sector that
anywhere you have a power installation, the
company must extend power to communities
around five kilometres radius. Since Omotosho
is our host community, there is an ongoing
project here to provide electricity to the
community and other adjoining communities.
It’s about 90% complete. As far as I’m
concerned, we have let the community realise
that we are working. We have made it known
to them to be patient. We are trying to give
them a standard project and we are taking it
step by step. You don’t just rush things in the
power sector.”
The Managing Director conducted the reporter
round the project, a three-winding transformer,
which has already been put into use internally.
“The community is just aggravating the
situation. Here is the project and you can see
the power lines running into the community.
We are just trying to secure protection for the
lines.”
Corporate social responsibility projects
In a post-privatisation monitoring and
evaluation trip by the Bureau of Public
Enterprises (BPE) team to the Phase one
power station last year, BPE Deputy Director
General, Rasaq Adedigba, lauded the company
for generating electricity at full capacity.
Thereafter, the company reeled out the
projects it had executed in the community as
part of its corporate social responsibility. This
was published in a national newspaper.
The reporter visited the library the company
constructed about four years ago for the only
secondary school in the community, Omotosho
Community Grammar School, to boost the
students’ knowledge and help their academic
pursuit despite the daunting challenges of
reading without electricity.
The miniature structure is painted brown, and
boldly embellished atop was the inscription
‘LIBRARY,’ but inside the library was a huge
vacuum. It was totally empty. No chairs,
tables or any form of educational materials.
The school’s Mathematics teacher, Mr.
Akindutire Ekunola said, “It’s just a building
without materials. The power station built the
library for us about four years ago without
even commissioning it. When they finished it,
they handed us the keys and left. The
students use the library sometimes for
lectures, but only during the dry season
because the roof leaks during the rainy
season. The ceiling is made of cardboard.”
Worse still, the school has no Physics teacher.
So, the senior students do not seem to have a
full grasp of what electricity entails. In fact,
none of the students in the school was born
the last time the community had light. The
only time they get to see electricity is when
their parents manage to fuel their generating
sets. One of such students is Samson
Adeyinka, an SSS3 student preparing for the
forthcoming West African Examination Council
(WAEC) and National Examination Council
(NECO) examinations. He said, “We have to
take our chairs and tables to the library
whenever we want to read. Since there are no
books in there, you have to go with yours. In
fact, the only time we have to read for our
exams is in the afternoon and that is why we
manage to use the library. If one waits till
evening, one has to read with a kerosene
lantern or one does not read at all. The
kerosene lantern has started affecting my
eyes. My parents cannot afford to fuel the
generator all the time for me to read. So, I try
to use the library during the day because my
final exams are just around the corner.”
On a visit to the community health centre the
company was reported to have built, it was
discovered that the facility was built by the
local government a long time ago and only
renovated by the company. According to
Ayodeji Meshagan, President of Omotosho
Youth Forum, they only added about three
rooms to the three rooms that made up the
facility originally. When this reporter asked for
direction to the mini-stadium, another facility
the company was reported to have built, Mr.
Ayodeji said there was nothing like that in the
community.
Of the six boreholes constructed for the
community, only two were working because
the people living around it contribute money to
buy fuel in their generating set to pump water.
Others have been abandoned.
Collapse of industries
Due to its abundant forest reserves, Omotosho
witnessed the influx of investors to the
community after the power station commenced
operations a decade ago, with the hope that
they would enjoy uninterrupted power supply.
The community, as small as it looks, has
fifteen sawmills. Currently, only few are in
operation. In one of the sawmills visited, the
owner Mr Segun Ogunsefunmi, said some of
the sawmills packed up due to the loss they
generated from buying diesel. He said, “The
only reason why my sawmill is still in
operation is because I have nowhere to go.
This is my community; I was born here.
Nevertheless, we run our industries at a loss.
The raw material is not the problem because
we have it in huge quantity. But we have to
use diesel every day.
“To me, the two power stations are a curse.
You rather not have a head than have a bad
head. We are not benefitting from them.
What’s the essence of having power
generation companies in a community and it
has been darkness for more than fifteen
years?”
Energy crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa?
According to the International Energy Agency’s
flagship publication, World Energy Outlook
(WEO) 2016, electricity access database, an
estimated 1.2 billion people, 16% of the global
population, did not have access to electricity.
This is 15 million fewer than reported in 2015.
The database indicates that more than 95% of
those living without electricity are in countries
in sub-Saharan Africa and developing Asia,
and they are predominantly in rural areas. In
other words, larger percentage of people living
in sub-Sahara Africa, which Nigeria belongs,
live without access to modern forms of energy.
Many resort to local alternative energy
sources.
However, a report by the United Nations
Secretary General’s Advisory Group on Energy
and Climate Change (AGECC) titled Energy for
a Sustainable future, has proposed a target of
assuring universal access to reliable,
affordable and sustainable modern energy
services by 2030. To achieve this, there must
be a massive electricity infrastructural
development.
With Nigeria’s power generation fluctuating
every now and then, and most of the time
dropping ridiculously, there seems to be no
hope in sight for reliable electricity in the
country. On several occasions, power
generation has crumbled to zero megawatts,
throwing the whole nation into darkness.
Presently, the country produces less than
4,000 megawatts for its 182 million citizens.
Even with the assurance of the Minister of
Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde
Fashola, that power generation will reach
10,000 megawatts by the end of 2019, there
might be more issues to resolve, from the
proposed increase in electricity tariff despite
the poor services rendered by distribution
companies to the low supply of gas to power
plants for adequate power generation. |
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