As reported by Leadership, the residents of Oke Adini, in the Sango area of Ilorin, Kwara State, have been enduring nearly 10 years without power supply due to a faulty transformer, which has severely affected their quality of life.

Local residents and shop owners expressed their frustration, noting that the absence of electricity has devastated their businesses. Many have been forced to spend extra money on petrol to power their generators. The issue of unreliable or nonexistent power supply over the past decade stems from the deteriorated condition of the transformer that serves the area.

Hakeem Olatidoye, a senior reporter with a state-owned media outlet and a resident of Oke Adini, confirmed that the area has been without power for nearly 10 years. Another resident, Alhaja Bolaji Saka, lamented that they are unable to preserve meat, fish, and other perishables in their refrigerators due to the lack of electricity.

Leadership reports that the situation has been further exacerbated by the failure of a contractor to deliver the approved transformer for the community’s use.

It was gathered that the federal government had in 2022 awarded a N44.5m contract for the installation of transformers at Oke Adini and some other communities in Kwara State.

The Ministry of Power approved the contract and put its supervision under the Rural Electrification Agency(REA), it was gathered.

The power project was facilitated by former senator representing Kwara central, Dr Yahaya Oloriegbe .

“No new transformer was supplied or installed for our community’s use. When the load was too much on one of the available transformers which made it blow up, we contributed funds to fix it, “ Olatidoye said.

Olatidoye and other respondents appealed to the Kwara State government to come to their aid by installing a new transformer for the community.