After six years of blackout in Magbon Alade and seven surrounding communities in Ibeju Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos State, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has pledged to intervene with the aim to restoring power back in affected towns.

The issue was formally brought to the Governor’s notice at the weekend during his two-day working visit to Free Trade Zones in the area. The affected towns are Magbon Alade, Alasia, Orimedu, Eleko, Osa Oroko, Ise, Akodo, Solu - all in Ibeju Local Government Area.

Sanwo-Olu held a parley with traditional rulers and villages’ heads in the area during which Onilekki of Lekki, Oba Liasim Ogunbekun, presented the problem before the Governor.

According to the monarch, the cause of the power outage could not be traced, while the power distribution company operating in the area has not given specific reasons for the blackout. Ogunbekun said despite the repairs carried out on the transmission cables that bring electricity into the affected towns by the council leadership, members of the communities have not had electricity for more than 30 minutes in the last six years.

The monarch said: “This is the sixth year that we have had electricity in our communities. Nobody has explained to us what the problem is, but we were told it is due to faulty transmission cables that takes electricity into the communities. Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area chairman rose to the occasion and changed all the cables. Yet, we only had light for 30 minutes. Since then, all the towns have been in darkness. We make passionate appeal to you, Mr. Governor, to intervene in this matter.”

The disclosure surprised Governor Sanwo-Olu, who said the matter was never brought to his notice. He said the council chairman only informed him during the tour of the free zones.

The Governor promised to personally take charge of the process towards restoring electricity back in the affected communities.

He said: “I was taken aback when I was informed by the Local Government chairman that the whole communities have not had electricity in the last six years. I asked if the problem was caused by transformer, he said the issue was beyond that. I didn’t believe the story until you (the traditional rulers) are telling me now. This is so bad. I will find out whether the issue came from Ibeju.

“God willing, I will personally take full charge of the situation and ensure we solve the power problem for you. Your only task is to constantly remind the State Government through your Local Government chairman. This is a problem we cannot neglect; we must solve it with the urgency it demands.”

Sanwo-Olu said the State Government had started making the move to strengthen security in communities surrounding the Free Trade Zone areas, disclosing that the State was considering the possibility of upgrading a police post in Akodo village to a full-fledged Divisional Police Station. The move, the Governor said, will be discussed with Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu.

Other traditional rulers at the meeting include Onise of Ise, Oba Ganiyu Adegbesan, Oloshoroko of Osa Oroko, Oba Ebenezer Oyiri, Elemoro, Oba Tajudeen Elemoro, represented by Chief Raji Elemoro, and Onisolu of Solu, Oba Muyideen Balogun.

The Ogun State Special Adviser/Director General, Bureau of Lands and Survey, Mr. Aina Salami has said that proper land documentation and official gazette of land acquisition were panacea to encroachment on school lands in the State, especially by land grabbers.

Salami, through his Press Officer, Ms. Morolayo Fadairo, made this assertion in Abeokuta at a meeting with the officials of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology urged the Ministry and school authorities to have survey plans, register their land titles and gazette them statutorily for proper recording.

While calling for the sensitisation of people in the schools’ community not to buy any land around any school location, Salami also urged school authorities to establish boundaries in such schools with the assistance of the Bureau of lands and Survey and put-up notifications of encroachment to further dissuade buyers from falling into the hands of land grabbers.

Speaking at the meeting, representative of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Mrs. Omolara Okusanya said the purpose of the meeting was to put a lasting solution to the issue of land encroachment on school land, saying that it was a serious issue that needed to be sorted out at once.

Mrs. Okusanya, who appreciated the DG and his team for the advice, observed that encroachment was a general problem in some of the government owned schools in different zones across the State.