After four months in darkness, Taraba community cries out over prolonged power outage

Residents of Mika Sabon-Gida community in Pupule ‘B’ Ward, Yorro Local Government Area of Taraba State, have raised the alarm over a prolonged power outage that has left the community without electricity for more than four months.

The residents, who spoke with DAILY POST, appealed to the Taraba State Government, Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC), elected representatives, philanthropists and other relevant stakeholders to urgently intervene and restore power to the area.

The prolonged blackout, reportedly caused by a faulty transformer, has severely disrupted economic activities and negatively affected the livelihoods and general well-being of residents.

A community leader, Jauro Baki, while appealing to the authorities and well-meaning individuals for support, called for urgent action to address the electricity crisis.

“We are calling on the state government, YEDC and other well-to-do individuals and our elected politicians to come to our aid by ensuring that power is restored to our community.”

For many residents, the impact of the blackout extends beyond the inconvenience of living without electricity, as businesses that depend on regular power supply have been forced to shut down or operate at significantly reduced capacity.

Andrew Helikiah, another resident, said the prolonged outage had contributed to the relocation of some young people from the community after their businesses became increasingly difficult to sustain.

“Because of this, most of our young men and women have relocated from this community to somewhere else because their small businesses are no longer functioning due to the prolonged power outage,” he said.

Also speaking on behalf of the residents, Alhaji Babangida Aliyu Mika Mika, a community representative and former Special Adviser to the Executive Chairman of Yorro Local Government Area, described the situation as increasingly unbearable.

Mika said the faulty transformer was particularly important because it serves not only Mika Sabon-Gida but also provides a critical electricity link to communities around Yorro and Zing Local Government Areas.

He therefore urged the authorities to consider the electricity crisis a matter of wider public interest and urgently provide a replacement transformer.

“Our businesses are dying, and the economic growth of our people has been completely undermined. We have endured over four months without a functional power supply.

“We are calling on the relevant authorities to facilitate the immediate provision of a new transformer to bring life back into our community’s economy,” he said.

Residents said families and business owners had been placed under considerable economic pressure as a result of the blackout, with many forced to depend on alternative sources of electricity, which they described as expensive and unsustainable.

For small-scale businesses, artisans and other economic operators, the absence of reliable electricity has made it increasingly difficult to maintain productivity, operate efficiently and sustain livelihoods.

The community is consequently calling on the Taraba State Government, electricity authorities, elected representatives and other stakeholders to treat the situation as an urgent public-interest matter.

They urged the authorities to facilitate the immediate replacement of the faulty transformer and restore electricity to Mika Sabon-Gida and surrounding communities.

According to the residents, restoring power would not only ease the hardship currently being experienced in Pupule ‘B’ Ward but would also help revive economic activities in neighbouring communities along the Yorro-Zing axis.

Alhaji Babangida Mika also expressed appreciation to government representatives and other stakeholders for their previous interventions in providing essential services aimed at improving the welfare of communities across Yorro LGA.

He, however, appealed for renewed and urgent action to address the electricity crisis, stressing that residents could no longer afford to remain in darkness after more than four months without a functional power supply.

Meanwhile, a senior YEDC officer in Taraba State, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the company had concluded plans to provide the community with a new transformer.

The officer, who directed our reporter to the company’s headquarters in Yola, the capital of Adamawa State, said YEDC was aware of the situation and was working to restore electricity to the community.

“YEDC is aware that the transformer in Mika Sabon-Gida community in Yorro Local Government Council has been down, and the company has been working round the clock to replace it.

“Though I am not in a position to speak to the press on the issue because our spokesperson is based in Yola, I can assure you that plans are already in the pipeline to restore power to the community,” he said.