Residents of Epe Division in Lagos State have lamented what they termed power outage by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in the community for over one year.

Some of the residents, who spoke in an interview on Wednesday in Epe, expressed their dissatisfaction over the situation.

Demola Olufowobi, a youth leader, lamented the alleged total neglect of the area by the PHCN.

He said that Epe community had been without power supply in the last one year.

“This is an ugly development in this 21st century; epileptic power supply should have been a thing of the past in our country not to talk of blackout.

“Both the federal and state governments should wade into the matter and help the ancient community and Nigeria at large find a final solution to this perennial challenge,” he said.

Another resident, Peju Akanji, a business woman, bemoaned the damages that the blackout had caused her business.

She said that her business had suffered serious setback due to the lack of power supply in the community.

“I do sell frozen foods and the business thrives when there is constant power supply.

“But since the last one year of power failure in the community, I have spent millions of Naira in buying fuel which have led to shortage of profit in my business.

“I doubt if my business can survive this perennial power supply challenges anymore, I am looking for an alternative business,” Miss Akanji said.

Ibrahim Ladele, Coordinator, National Youths Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Epe branch, said that the youth council had written several letters to PHCN to address the power supply challenges but to no avail.

He said that the PHCN officials came to Epe recently to investigate what went wrong and discovered a lot of hiccups and promised to address them.

“I do hope they stick to their word and address the problem on time; however, we will not relent in calling out on the PHCN officials to provide a lasting solution to the power supply issue in Epe community,” he said.

A community leader, Afeez Lawal, described the power situation in the community as hopeless, saying that they had not had electricity in about a year.

Mr Lawal, who attributed the challenge to the deplorable state of the transformers serving the community, called on the Epe Local Government Chairman to assist in rescuing the community from blackout.

“As a community leader and resident of this great town, I urge authorities to intervene in this matter as a matter of urgency.

“The blackout and neglect by PHCN management have paralysed business activities in the ancient community,” he said.

Mr Lawal said that visitors, families and friends would be coming into the town by June for Sallah festival, and urged PHCN officials to restore the power supply for the community to enjoy the festive season.

Efforts to get PHCN officials to react to the allegation proved abortive.

(NAN)