Simon Utebor, Yenagoa

Residents of Otuoke, former President Goodluck Jonathan’s community in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, have cried out over the lingering power outage in the area.

Some concerned residents, who spoke to Southern City News, lamented that power supply had eluded the community for about four years.

It was learnt that Otuoke residents were thrown into darkness sometime in 2013 when the gas turbine (gas generator) which had hitherto been a dependable source of electricity was allegedly destroyed by rainstorm.

Since that incident, Southern City News learnt that effort to rehabilitate the gas turbine to serve the electricity needs of the residents had failed.

Otuoke community, a host to a federal university, a cottage hospital, hotels, student hostels, among others, is not connected to the national grid.

The residents were said to have derived their electricity from the turbine which was first installed by the Melford Okilo administration in the early 80s until it packed up about four years ago.

In 2014, the Seriake Dickson administration made effort to refurbish the turbine by taking it to the manufacturers in the United Kingdom, but the residents are still groping in the dark.

A visit by the Southern City News to the community on Tuesday revealed that darkness still pervaded the entire length and breadth of the former President’s community.

A resident, Mr Azibola Oru, lamented that the community had been without electricity since 2013, saying that the development was better imagined than experienced.

Oru, an employee of state Ministry of Health, appealed to the Bayelsa Government to come to the rescue of the community for the sake of the students that could not afford generators.

He said, “We are tired of the power outage in our community. Due to the hopeless situation, most workers and students in the area prefer to come to work and school from Yenagoa instead of living in Otuoke.

“We are begging the government to come up with necessary measures to bring power to the Federal University’s host community.”

Another resident, Mrs. Anita Moses, urged the state government to connect Otuoke to the national grid in the absence of a functional gas turbine.

She believed that if the government showed more commitment, the power supply problem would be ameliorated in no distant time.

A restaurant operator, who gave her name only as Peace, said the absence of power had dealt a devastating blow to her business.

‘’Due to this power supply problem, I am usually running at a loss. Imagine a situation you spent about N7,000 per week on fuelling generator alone. You know what it amounts to in a month. This is not inclusive of other running costs such as salaries of salespersons.

A former Chairman, Community Development Committee of the area, Mr. Mekumunisi Digha, said the situation was hampering economic and social lives of the residents.

He, however, reminisced that when the residents cried out to former President Goodluck Jonathan, the ex-President, last year, paid part of money demanded by an electricity company to link them to the national grid.

He expressed optimism that with efforts so far made by the community, Otuoke community would soon heave a sigh of relief.

“I’m equally urging the residents to be prepared to pay their electricity bills when power is finally restored to the community. I must say that great measures have been put in place to restore power to Otuoke.’’