Residents and business owners in Osogbo, Osun, on Tuesday,  decried the power cut nationwide by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) following the strike declared by labour unions.

The residents and businesses owners said that they used generators and alternative energy to run their businesses.

Adetunji Adewale, a barber, said that his salon since Monday had been running on generator.

Mr Adewale said he had been operating almost at a loss since the commencement of the strike, and the money spent on fuelling the generator had taken all his profit.

“We are used to having constant electricity supply in Osogbo and I hardly have any need to use the generator. But because of the strike, I had to service my generator and fùel it. I have not used it in a long while before yesterday.

“I have spent almost N10,000 on the generator alone and I didn’t even have much customers yesterday.This means that I have not really made the money I spent on powering my shop.” he said.

Mr Adewale appealed to labour leaders and government to resolve their differences as soon as possible “so that electricity can be restored.”

Also, Kazim Adeoye, a resident and a real estate agent, said the battery of his two phones were already dead because there was no electricity to power them since Monday.

Mr Adeoye said he and his family also had to endure heat throughout the night as there was no way to turn on the fan without electricity.

“As I speak to you now, I am looking for where I can charge my phones. I am a real estate agent and I transact most of my business on my phones. Only God knows the number of people that would have been trying to reach me now, since my phones were off.

“I just pray that the NLC and federal government resolve their differences today for TCN to restore the lights. The absence of electricity is just adding more pains to what we are already going through in this country,” he said

Similarly, Felicia Ogungbemi,  a vendor of frozen food, said she had been apprehensive due to the power outage.

According to her, the apprehension stems from the fact that she is a vendor of frozen poultry and fish.

Ms Ogungbemi said that if power was not restored in the next 24 hours, all the frozen items in her freezers would spoil.

She explained that because she was on Band A and has had constant electricity for the past two months and did not see the need to repair her faulty generator.

Ms Ogungbemi, therefore, appealed to the labour unions and the governmnet to quickly resolve the issue of national minimum wage “so that Nigerians can enjoy power supply.”

(NAN)