Residents raise alarm over high-tension wires

ayodele johnson

April 5, 2016 10:17 AM

The residents of the community have written to the Senior Special Assistant to the governor to intervene.

A man standing against a ladder on an electricity pole

Dwellers at Michael Ogun/Durojaiye Street, Obele Oniwala Estate, Lawanson, in the Surulere Local Government Area of Lagos, have raised concerns about the plan of some contractors in the area, who aim to move high-tension wires over their roofs.

Fear have grown that the action might pose serious life threat to the residents of the community.

All the move of the residents to convince the contractors not to embark on their plan have fallen on deaf ears.

Speaking on the subject, a landlord in the community said, “When this contract was awarded, the state government called all the contractors, the community development associations and the executive secretaries for a meeting. They were told that the contractors must work with the CDAs. The unfortunate thing is that the ES of the Surulere LGA, decided not to work with the CDA.

“These poles are being moved so that the high-tension wires will be over our roofs. They are less concerned about our safety. We are appealing to the government to assist us. The high-tension wires are risks to us.

“The contractors are supposed to liaise with the electricity company to look into how our safety can be guaranteed. We have written the ES, the commissioner for local government affairs, and the senior special assistant to the governor on community development. We met with the Ikeja Electric and we were told that no approval was given for the movement.”

The residents appealed to the Senior Special Adviser to the governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Tajudeen Quadri, to take an action regarding their plight.

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Part of the letter reads, “The entire residents of Michael Ogun/Durojaiye under Obele Oniwala CDA, while appreciating the state government programme in modernising and rehabilitating inner roads, will like to point out what may be considered a flaw as regards the contractors’ plan to move the electric poles carrying high-tension wires over our roofs, which means imminent danger to us and our children considering the fact that some of these poles carry 11 KVA mini transformers with fuses that could explode at any time,”

Project companies in Nigeria often fail to observe safety measures whenever they are embarking on an assignment supposedly due to laziness or reluctance to spend and conserve cost.

ayodele johnson