One may conclude that this was done by someone who knows nothing about electricity, conduction or live wire but surprisingly it was done by an organization with the best electrical engineers, technicians and technologists in Nigeria and this is just one of the many such connections around.
Wiring of the city for electricity is a major responsibility of distribution companies in Nigeria. Although, most of the wiring to homes was inherited from the companies responsible for the distribution of power in the past, however, the distribution companies were to correct anomalies and make sure light gets to everyone in a way as not to endanger anyone or shortchange the customers.
Unfortunately, most installation of cable to houses is ironically ‘death traps’ in most neighborhoods as seen everywhere. A typical example is the image above, where wire is drawn over an apartment in a compound precisely at No. 21, Rimaye Street, Katsina, Katsina State. Whenever there is wind or rainfall the neutral touches the roof of the house causing voltage to rise or reduce and sometimes end up blowing up the source transformer’s fuse leaving the neighborhood in a blackout. Worst still, the neutral sometimes weave with the lines to causes big bang on the roof of the house sending shivers to the spine of anyone around especially those leaving in the compound in question.
One may conclude that this was done by someone who knows nothing about electricity, conduction or live wire but surprisingly it was done by an organization with the best electrical engineers, technicians and technologists in Nigeria and this is just one of the many such connections around.
During the formative years of electricity distribution companies in Nigeria, we were told that professionals will handle everything with the best of technologies. The recruitment was highly competitive and those recruited were also sent for special short and long term trainings.
Although, one funny thing in Nigeria is that people attend trainings to take pictures, meet new friends, wine and dine. Government, United Nations and other partners often organize trainings but the outcomes are most often bewildering and unbelievable because people learn little or nothing from most of the trainings.
Katsina Mirror contacted the people living within this premises, who confirmed that they have complained to the appropriate authorities several times but they only always come to do little adjustments to the wires without taking further step to correct the installation by redirecting the line. Imagine the risk those living in that apartment are exposed to!
One of the residents who don’t want his name mentioned told us that several times they’ve ran out of the house when the electric wires began to spark making loud noises. He told, us that there were times some of their appliances in the house get damaged due to over-voltage at that instance. He said, “We don’t know what else to do than to continue to overlook and stay, whatever happens”.
Sometimes, the street will not have light for days after transformer’s fuse is blown off by the bridging of the neutral wire with the roof or the coiling together of the wires. It has become a regular experience for those living in the street and they have adapted to it.
But the fact is that during the period of no power to those houses the power distribution companies are losing income generation from these users despite having lots of professional’s, engineers, technicians etc. but none of them could figure out what is happening and what can be done. They kept complaining they are not making sufficient income but do not bother to reckon with losses from this type of situation.
Several times it takes hours or even days for them to come and rectify the problem burning fuel and spending energy on nothing. The office will think these engineers and technicians are busy by always getting calls to fix such problems which were created by their inefficiency. Many customers avoid calling because whenever they come they will be expecting tips (money) for helping the customer. These may be the reason why they do shoddy works so that customers can always call and tip them.
Moreover, most of these faults send feedback to electric station and sub-stations causing big transformers to blow up or develop faults that will require days and lots of resources to fix.
In a chat with the technical manager who is said to be in charge in the Katsina office of the Power Company (KEDCO), he said he was aware of the situation there and that an individual in that neighborhood has requested how much it will cost to remove the wire from the roof so that they do not continue to have power problem in that area every time.
Although, the manager said the owner of the house is responsible because he trespassed the line of way of their wire line and there is a department that supposed to write the owner of the house to provide materials for the redirection of the cables. He further said if the owner of the house refuses to respond, the Power Company (KEDCO) can involve the law enforcement agents to force him or her to comply.
However, this problem has been for years and nothing was done. Furthermore, people living in the area confirmed to us that the house was there before the other pole came and the cable have to be crossed like that to reduce the number of poles to take wires to the other side.
Our correspondent visit to the location this afternoon after a week-long follow up on this issues confirmed that some Power Company (KEDCO) officials were working on the location but not sure whether the adjustment they are making will bring a permanent solution to the power problem in that area.
In conclusion, there are several suggestions that can help Power Company (KEDCO) to deal with some of these issues,
- The Power Companies (KEDCO) supposed to have supervisors who go around checking work done by their so called professional staffs and contractors.
- Power Companies (KEDCO) supposed to have logs of complaints made by customers and give attention to recurrent ones for analysis.
- Power Companies (KEDCO) should begin to do an overhaul of all their installation to meet up with developments in our communities.
- The Power Companies (KEDCO) should start penalizing staff who collects tips from customers.
- The Power Companies (KEDCO) should set up dedicated call centers to centralize complaints for analysis.
- The Power Companies (KEDCO) should lay off incompetent staff and employ experienced ones with good initiative.
- The Power Companies (KEDCO) should do regular checks on their installations without waiting for customers to call.
- The Power Companies (KEDCO) should ensure effective service delivery by publishing daily, weekly or monthly power distribution so that customers will know when to have light and when not so that they can brace up for it, etc.
There are many more steps Power Companies (KEDCO) can take to ameliorate these problems like employing the services of consultants because contractors of Power Companies (KEDCO) connive with staff to do lots of shoddy jobs. Certainly, the consultant too can be compromised but Power Companies (KEDCO) can leverage on the fact that if anything fails the consultant will be liable and the consequences will be sanctions or fines both for consultants and contractors.
Please kindly post pictures of wrong connections around your area in the comment section for the attention of Power Companies (KEDCO) and for necessary actions. Further information or correspondence to admin@katsinamirror.ng