Oyo Ibarapa Communities Report Years of Poor Power as IBEDC Begins Repairs
Residents of communities in Oyo State’s Ibarapa axis say years of severely unreliable electricity have disrupted businesses, schools, healthcare and daily life.
The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company says rehabilitation and restoration work has begun on parts of the network.
Residents of Igboora, Ayete, Tapa and Igangan described prolonged periods of poor or inadequate supply, with some saying meaningful electricity has been absent for about a decade.
The duration varies by community and account.
The reports should therefore not be treated as evidence of one uninterrupted 10-year blackout across the entire Ibarapa axis.
Residents describe impact on businesses and services
Residents say unreliable electricity has forced some businesses to depend heavily on generators and other alternative power sources.
They also described consequences for schools, healthcare facilities, security and local economic activity.
Some community representatives said residents had contributed money toward repairs or replacement of damaged electricity infrastructure and efforts to protect installations from vandalism.
Those accounts illustrate the burden on residents but do not by themselves establish responsibility for every outage.
IBEDC cites network constraints
IBEDC Coordinating Head of Corporate Services Angela Olanrewaju attributed the poor supply to infrastructure limitations affecting the Ibarapa axis.
She said communities depend on a long radial network that is vulnerable to voltage limitations, technical losses and prolonged outages, particularly toward the far end of the supply line.
IBEDC says rehabilitation, restoration and vegetation-management work has begun.
Sustained improvement in electricity supply has not yet been established.
Company cites federal rehabilitation project
IBEDC says the Federal Government, through the Rural Electrification Agency, is undertaking Phase 1 rehabilitation of the Eruwa–Igboora network.
IDNN has not independently confirmed the current implementation stage through a separate REA statement.
The project therefore remains attributed to IBEDC.
The distribution company says the intervention is expected to strengthen the network and improve supply to affected communities.
Rehabilitation work does not mean regular electricity has already been restored.
Future transmission projects remain pending
IBEDC also points to proposed transmission infrastructure as part of the longer-term solution.
The company cites planned Maya and Igangan 132/33kV substations and an Igboora switching station.
Older transmission planning material supports plans for infrastructure in the area, but current completion and commissioning status have not been independently established.
The projects should therefore not be treated as delivered electricity capacity.
For residents, the immediate test is whether the rehabilitation now underway results in sustained improvements in daily supply.
For IBEDC and public authorities, the accountability questions are when communities will receive more reliable power, what milestones govern the work and how progress will be measured.