Residents in Villages of Birnin-Waje, Dangurumfa, Dargaje and Matseri all in Bukkuyum Local Government Area of Zamfara State have lamented over total power outage in their communities, which according to them, is hampering their economic activities.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Secretary of the Birnin-Waje Community Development Association, Malam Sani Umar Waje, saying these communities have continued to remain in darkness and economic meltdown, due to the power outage for the past three months.
“These communities have been connected to National Grid under the federal government’s Rural electrification program and after 18 Months of using the power supply, it was suddenly cut off for no reason by the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company.” He said
The Residents said the affected communities have constituted a Consultation Committee headed by the District Head of Dangurumfa, Alhaji Aminu Muhammed to interface with the officials of the Distribution company with a view of finding lasting solution to the blackout.
“This committee has played an important role in understanding the situation. The committee traveled as far as Talata-Mafara to meet with officials on this issue but all the efforts have not yielded success.”
The statement explains that as a business hub and considering the security challenges bedeviling the entire Bukkuyum Local Government Area, most of these communities are now in a sorry state in terms of power supplies, which has crippled the economy and blocked opportunities for entrepreneurship, thereby increasing the level of unemployment amongst the youths and leaving the growing ones hopeless.
“Considering the importance of electricity to economic development and job creation for our teeming youth, and the impact of electricity on security, we call on the authorities and other stakeholders to look at this problem and possible way to solve it.”
Abdulrazak Kaura
