The suffering Orumba residents

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The suffering Orumba residents

Gov. Obiano of Anambra State

The great Igbo adage has it that, suffering does not in any form or manner nourish anyone's body. I believe it makes one lose his mental alertness and sense of belonging; this is to prove how grievous suffering is to human life. This is true, considering the dictionary definition of the word to "suffer." It is to feel pain or great discomfort in body or mind.  This definition can only best describe the kind of mental and bodily torture the residents of Orumba North and South council areas have been subjected to these past years when it comes to electricity supply.
     Electricity supply to them has become a mirage; it is like a tale in the moonlight. There case has become like that of the biblical saying: "who will go for us?" I should think that is why our medium, The Ogene Newspaper, came on board - to speak for the voiceless!
      We must talk about it until our voices get to the authorities concerned. We can’t keep quiet at this time. It was Jane Austen, an English novelist, in his great work, “Pride and Prejudice,” who once said, and I quote: “Nobody can tell what I suffer! But it is always so. Those who do not complain are never pitied.” How can we be pitied if we do not speak up? The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) people are human beings; they have ears, and I believe this is the time for them to hear us.
      The Orumba people are not happy at all. How can they be happy when they are subjected to untold hardship and agony – an agony that is unequaled? To them happiness is far-fetched! When it comes to electricity supply, they have never known what is real happiness. Borrowing the words of the French author, Alexandre Dumas, in his book, “The Black Tulip,” and I also quote: “Sometimes, one has suffered enough to have the right to never say: I am too happy.” How can they be proud to say they are happy when they are perpetually subjected to inhuman treatment? I may be tempted to say like the Bible said of the Israelites in the land of Egypt that their cry of suffering in the land of bondage had reached heaven. This may not be out of place in describing what the Orumba people are at present passing through. Can one imagin the situation of people who have not known what it is to have a 24-hour supply of electricity for about a decade now? This is very disturbing and should attract the attention of the providers of electricity. They should act before they all die in silence – God forbid!
     While major cities are enjoying the present improvement in power supply, the rural dwellers especially in Orumba are yet to share in it. They are yet to see that miracle performed in their domain. The scenario is very dangerous, why? Because other Nigerians who are enjoying the dividends of democracy in this dimension will never get to comprehend that others are languishing in perpetual suffering. It is only he who wears the shoes that knows where it pinches. Orumba people have been perpetually suffering as a result of poor electricity supply. They have been dehumanized and shortchanged at the same time. Rural electrification in Orumba to me is a huge failure to say the least.
      In my former write-up, I defined infrastructure as the basic equipment and structures (such as roads and bridges) that are needed for a country, region, or organization to function properly. Considering this definition again, one will still observe that an infrastructure is meant to function optimally, and also to serve the people to whom such infrastructure is provided. Suffice it to say that problem only comes when the reverse is the case. We all know that the government has invested a lot of fortune just to ensure that Nigerians enjoy continued power supply, but all that has become but utopia in this part of the country, a dream world, that can only be imagined!
       Orumba people have for so long been marginalized and traumatized. They are yet to understand the much ado about the dividends of democracy. They are crying, but their tears have not run enough for the authorities to notice their cry and predicament. My question is always this, has it become a curse to become a rural dweller? I am saying this considering the government insistence that people should avoid urban migration by living in the rural areas to help in its development. Or do they want to convince us that this call is just a mere lip service and cosmetic, one not coming with good intentions? If not,  tell me why for over  a decade now, Orumba people (North and South) are yet to enjoy for once, adequate electricity supply. This perennial and reoccurring dilemma of the people has warranted so many of them to migrate to the so-called urban areas in search of greener pasture, if there is ever one anywhere.
        One can feasibly see frustrations on their faces. The artisans in the area are even worse hit. This is because they are supposed to make use of electricity on a daily basis for their work. Some of them do not even have the resources to acquire generating sets to boost their businesses, making them to experience an unending agony and frustration. To make their case and others worse, is the fact that they are subjected to pay for the service they do not even make use of. Why would they not pay since there are no pre-paid meters anywhere in the area?
        In almost all the communities I had the privilege to visit, I could not even sight anything like meters at all (pre-paid or analog). The billing method in most Orumba communities is still the estimated bill. So what the EEDC staff do is to come around with their crazy and arbitrary bills at the end of the day, and subject the people to pay whether they like it or not. The irony of it all is that they are even threatened of losing the service they have never enjoyed. Why should they not pay, do they have any alternative? They have made desperate efforts to get the pre-paid meters to enable them at least pay for the actual service they consumed, but the EEDC will never comply. The reason is simple – to shortchange the people. They have decried and condemned these inconsistencies and anomalies, but the authorities will never harken to their cry. Something must be done, and done urgently!
      In most cases, bills paid by the people do not get to the government coffers, but rather, they end up in the pockets of the EEDC staff, and no one accounts for that, and no receipts are issued for bills paid. All one notices is some EEDC staff coming along; collect the bills with no document to show any payment and off they go till another supposedly billing time. The questions are, for how long will this continue? Can’t the authorities of EEDC respond to the plight of these Nigerians, who are supposed to be direct beneficiaries of the so-called dividends of democracy? Do they want the people to carry placards and start demonstrating or picketing their offices before they can respond to their cries?    
        One Orumba resident, a native of Ndikelionwu, in recounting his ordeals in the hands of EEDC, told me how he got fed up with their service, went to their Ekwulobia office and ordered them to come and recover all their service wires. They insisted he must pay the past estimated bills sent to him, which he never consumed, before he could disengage. He did, and EEDC came and recovered all their wires. The man today “enjoys” his generating sets more than the so-called electricity supply. The man could act this way because he can afford the pains of purchasing petrol to fuel his generating set. What of the very poor ones who cannot afford it? They are all languishing in perpetual agony and suffering.
      You see, the problem with Nigerians, especially the authorities, is insensitivity and unresponsiveness to the plight of the people. They are never proactive when it comes to issues like this. They always wait to see the worst happen before they start to run helter-skelter. Our system believes so much in fire brigade approach, instead of nipping the problem at the bud before it escalates. Something concrete must be done now to alleviate the suffering of the Orumba people. I, therefore, call for a state of emergency to be declared in the electricity supply in the area. It has come to that extent!
       To the vast majority of Orumba people, the existence of EEDC in the area is just a mere window dressing exercise. They are yet to feel their impact. To some of them, their problem pre-dates the emergence of EEDC; it is traceable to the days of National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), Power Holdings Company of Nigeria (PHCN), and to the present era. This is a people who do not know what it is to have a full-day electricity; they are yet to see that fulfilled in their lives.
      As mentioned earlier, small, medium and even large businesses in the area are immensely suffering and complaining of loss of income that is supposed to be accrued to them if electricity has been steady. Hotel owners, hairdressing salons, and other artisans have been counting their losses as a result of this perennial problem. This really contradicts government’s efforts in promoting entrepreneurship in the country. To me, it is both an irony and a paradox, and if urgent steps are not taken to forestall this anomaly, government’s efforts will continue to be sabotaged by the same government that promotes and encourages entrepreneurship. Here I rest my case, thanks and God bless!