Residents and business owners across several communities in Kebbi State have raised concerns over persistent power outages that have left many areas in prolonged darkness, disrupting economic activities and worsening living conditions.
The blackout, which has reportedly lingered for months in parts of the state, has forced many households and small-scale businesses to struggle for survival amid rising operational costs and declining income.
Findings showed that communities in different local government areas now experience little or no electricity supply for weeks, a situation residents described as unbearable and damaging to livelihoods.
Small business operators, especially traders who depend on refrigeration and electricity-powered equipment, said the outages had caused heavy financial losses.
A frozen food seller in the Badariya area, Musa Abdullahi, lamented that the prolonged blackout had made it difficult to preserve perishable items, resulting in loss of customers and damaged goods.
According to him, the high cost of acquiring a solar power system capable of running refrigerators and other appliances remains beyond the reach of many small business owners.
Another trader in the Kara area of Birnin Kebbi said sales had dropped significantly as customers now avoid shops without electricity, while the soaring cost of fueling generators continues to worsen the burden on small-scale operators.
The Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, popularly known as KAEDCO, is responsible for electricity distribution in Kebbi, Kaduna, Sokoto and Zamfara states.
The company has repeatedly faced criticism from consumers over unstable electricity supply, frequent load shedding and inadequate distribution across communities within its franchise areas.
KAEDCO had previously blamed the situation on low allocation from the national grid, transmission limitations and revenue challenges, which it said contributed to recurring outages in affected states.
In an effort to address the crisis, the Kebbi State Government in April inaugurated a multi-stakeholder committee to engage the distribution company over the lingering electricity challenges.
The committee was constituted after a town hall meeting involving government officials, stakeholders and KAEDCO representatives to discuss complaints surrounding poor electricity supply in the state.
The panel was tasked with reviewing the volume of electricity supplied to the state relative to payments made, while also examining billing practices and operational issues affecting service delivery.
However, weeks after the deadline given by the government for submission of its findings, the committee has yet to publicly release its report, leaving many residents uncertain about possible solutions.
The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Kebbi State Governor, Yahaya Sarki, also expressed frustration over the worsening situation, urging the distribution company to take immediate action to restore supply to affected communities.
Residents of Kawara community disclosed that they had remained without electricity for months following the damage of a transformer, with no intervention yet from relevant authorities.
Several other areas, including parts of GRA, Kara feeder and communities along the Gesse-Rugga axis, were also said to be experiencing prolonged blackout and unstable power supply.
Meanwhile, the state government had earlier suspended its monthly N150m support to the electricity distribution company over what officials described as poor service delivery and persistent complaints from residents.
