By: Sonaike Peter

Residents of C3-constituency, Great Independence Hall of Residence, University of Ibadan, have expressed concern over the prolonged power outage on their floor.

According to the occupants of the floor, the power outage on the floor has persisted for seven days, IndyPress can report.

The occupants who spoke to IndyPress revealed that the power outage has forced student-residents to charge their gadgets in other rooms within the block.

According to the occupants, officials from the Department of Maintenance and Works visited their floor on Monday, December 2, 2024, to conduct a survey on the faulty facilities.

Makinlade Michael, in an interview with IndyPress, disclosed that the Floor Representative of C3-Constituency, Oduyale Michael Olamide, had been notified about the power outage from the outset.

Michael explained that the Department of Works and Maintenance had visited their floor on two separate occasions to conduct surveys.

“It has been really bad. Just returning from block to another block to charge your phone. And If your phone is dead, that means you have to wait till the next morning. It is really really bad but we hope to see good response from the maintenance,” Michael lamented.

“Maintenance came here yesterday; they just make a…probably a survey or something. They said they will still work on it. But as at now, we have a maintenance that has been here two times and it is getting close to a week; Probably six to seven days now.”

“We want the hall management to see into it because it is not really nice for close to over seven days not having light,” he concluded.

Corroborating the above, another occupant of the floor, who pleaded anonymity, described the experience as ‘bad’.

He lamented about having to sleep in darkness, as well as powering up his gadgets in other rooms.

“It has been really really bad because for day to day activities we make use of light and all of that. We have to go to another floor to charge our phone and all of that and sleep in darkness. It is inconvenient for us as students, because light is one of the major things we make use of,” he lamented.

“If the management can quickly deal with the matter, it will be good; like fast, because this is six to seven days now that we don’t have light; that we have been sleeping in darkness. This is not how it is supposed to be.”

Oduyale Olumide Michael, Representative of the C3-constituency, assured IndyPress that he was actively addressing the issue, and has already contacted the relevant authorities to resolve the matter.

“Regarding the power supply, actually I have been on it and I have reached out to the appropriate quarters that I should Involve in the case. The light got spoilt from the power house over there(B-Block); That was where the disconnection happened,” Michael said.

“Based on what Obi (the House Secretary) told me. He said it was from that power house that it got disconnected. I have reached out to Obi. I have reached out to the AG himself. Even yesterday, I was at the Supervisors’ office. They said I should come and meet them this morning; They said they have been informed and you know all the Maintenance of the stuff, they are very very slow when it comes to making decision; You know it is kind of bureaucratic and all,” Michael added.

Hon. Michael, the floor rep, revealed that he has contacted the Hall Warden regarding the ongoing electricity issue, and the Warden has assured him that the matter will be followed up on by reminding the Department of Works and Maintenance to address the problem.

“So, even this morning, I met with the Hall Warden. The Hall warden told me that he will follow up with that; he will still give them reminder.”

In a Interview with IndyPress, the Administrator General of the Great Independence, Olaniyan Olamilekan Ibrahim stated that “appropriate authorities have been reached out to but the attitude of the Maintenance electricians is always the problem.”

“We have been on it since then and appropriate authorities have been reached but the attitude of the Maintaenance electricians is always the problem,” Olaniyan said.

When asked if aware of the outage, Ejere Emmanuel, Indy Hall’s House Secretary stated that the issue has been reported to Hall Supervisor, while confirming that the Department of Works and Maintenance has been reached out to address the outage.

“Yes and the case have been reported to the supervisors in which there are talks ongoing with the Maintenance department,” Ejere said.

A release circulated by the Hall leadership, on Wednesday, November 4, 2023, on Whatsapp, reaffirmed efforts to fix the concern.

“The ongoing light issue is due to weak cables, as confirmed by the supervisor on Thursday. Unfortunately, this requires the intervention of the Maintenance Unit, and it is beyond our capacity to resolve directly. The Administrator General was there yesterday. They’ve been involved and we are both working on it already,” the release reads.