Dear Tambuwal, Bodinga is in total blackout

It is now incumbent to bring to the notice of Your Excellency an unwholesome development which has invariably become the norm in Bodinga community of Sokoto State. I read through a number of achievements of your administration reeled out in the Tribune. And I said to myself that despite how beautiful these achievements are, one […]

It is now incumbent to bring to the notice of Your Excellency an unwholesome development which has invariably become the norm in Bodinga community of Sokoto State. I read through a number of achievements of your administration reeled out in the Tribune. And I said to myself that despite how beautiful these achievements are, one of your major undoing may be the issue of total blackout that Bodinga community has been thrown into for the past six months, since the people would not forget.

As a government, you owe the people the responsibility of catering for their welfare. Power supply is a basic necessity of life. Life would be difficult if this basic necessity is not there. I want to believe that it is to deliver service to the people that you sought for their mandate to become the governor in the first place. It won’t therefore augur well if the people on whose back you rode to power are languishing in darkness.

Bodinga community is a popular town in our dear state. Its proximity to Sokoto town is obvious. What will happen to the image of our state, the Seat of the Caliphate, if an outsider perchance comes into Bodinga and discovers that it has no power supply for the past six months? Therefore your urgent intervention in the issue is needed at this material time.

I never knew this has been happening until I came home of recent and discovered that the whole community is in blackout. As a student, I couldn’t stay there for a week before returning back to my hostel in the state capital. For the seven days I spent there, I was charging my phone outside with chargers. No light, not even for a second. I couldn’t press my clothes, and do sundry other things that require electricity.

It is an obvious fact that Bodinga is mostly dominated by artisans who depend largely on power supply. Some have been running their businesses epileptically because of this concern. It doesn’t bode well for the government. In fact, the state of darkness raises concerns for security. If criminal elements study the environment and discover it is always in blackout, it might be a hotbed of criminality for them. This will verily affect the status of our state as the most peaceful state in Nigeria.

While the power brokers and elite in Bodinga may choose to look away because they are not all that affected, the ordinary people on the streets are feeling the brunt. These are people who do not have money to buy generator but are in need of power to run their businesses. They may appear voiceless, but they are not happy. I therefore choose to speak for them.

As a listening governor, I hope you would rise to the occasion and see to the issue raised in this piece on behalf of the masses. It is morally wrong for the power company officials to keep getting salary for service they have failed to provide.

The outrageous charges they bring to the people also need to be considered. This is the major bone of contention between the power company and the people.

Thank you for your time and I anticipate your swift reaction on this concern.

Umar Yahya  is an undergraduate of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto.