Residents bemoan years-long blackout in Kano emirate headquarters

Residents of Rano town, the headquarters of Rano Emirate Council in Kano State, have accused the authorities of insensitivity to their plights two years after the area was cut off from the national grid due to incessant power asset theft and vandalism.

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The residents told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday that the prolonged power outage has affected local businesses and widened economic development gaps among the emirates councils in the state.

The residents said their complaints to the local and state officials over the years on the situation had fallen on deaf ears.

Yakubu Abdullahi started his trade as a welder in Rano in 2002. He said there was a ‘partial power stability’ in the town until the blackout forced them to rely on diesel to power their machines. He said the high cost of diesel has driven many of his colleagues out of business.

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“It is double suffering for us welders in the town because the cost of diesel is very high, some of us are using inverters and generators as power source. Even the gain was small when you are using normal electricity, so you can imagine what we are going through now.”

Mr Abdullahi said the welders’ union in the town has about 50 members.

“We need a constant power supply to sustain livelihoods, but from the way things are going, I doubt if the government cares about our wellbeing”, he said.

Rano town is the administrative headquarters of Rano LGA and Kano South Senatorial District. The LGA has 10 political wards, including Dawaki, Lausu, Madachi, Rano, Rurum Sabon Gari, Rurum Tsohon Gari, Saji, Yalwa, Zinyau, and Zurgu.

Rano had a first-class emir until the emirate was downgraded to second-class in last year’s emirate reform by the state government. The government also appointed a new emir with the new status. Aside from the emirate crisis, residents said the electricity supply crisis has also pulled the town backwards by shackling its economic activities.

Another resident, Yusuf Bala, wondered why the authorities could not connect the town to the electricity infrastructure in neighbouring Bunkure local government area about four kilometres away.

Mr Bala said Rano residents travel to neighbouring communities to buy ice blocks and cold soft drinks, especially during Ramadan, the Muslim month for fasting.

Anas Muhammad, a tailor, said his trade union officials met many officials several times over the years to plead for power restoration, but all to no avail.

Mr Muhammad said many of his colleagues had abandonned the business due to the power outage.

“We were paying about N4,000 electricity bill per shop monthly but you have to pay the same amount in a day to buy fuel if you want to continue in the business.

“Some of us with high patronage stay in business to hold our customers hoping the government will restore power in the town, but it seems like the local officials were just deceiving us over the years,” Mr Muhammad lamented.

Our reporter counted 10 electricity poles that had been vandalised and their cables were stolen. Residents feared that the cable theft had made it more difficult for the town to be reconnected to the national grid.

Not our business

The state’s Commissioner for Power and Renewable Energy, Gaddafi Shehu, told PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday that his ministry was not officially aware of the power outage, because the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) and the residents were yet to officially lodge their complaints with the ministry.

He said KEDCO has the mandate to reconnect the town and his ministry only plays an oversight role in the sector. Mr Shehu said the company is mandated to distribute electricity in the state and to replace power infrastructure in case of vandalism.

The KEDCO’s spokesperson, Sani Bala, did not respond to requests for the position of the company on the development.