The Kebbi State Government has issued an appeal to the residents of Birnin Kebbi, the state capital, and its surrounding areas, urging them to exercise patience as they endure a prolonged period of complete power outage. The assurance of relief from this situation was conveyed through a statement released by the Chief Press Secretary to the state governor, Ahmed Idris, which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Birnin Kebbi on a recent Sunday.
In this statement, the Secretary to the State Government, Yakubu Bala-Tafida, was quoted as he made a heartfelt plea during his visit to the substation of the Transmission Company of Nigeria in Birnin Kebbi. This visit followed a tragic incident on September 14, when a fire destroyed one 90MVA (330KV/132KV) and a 60MVA (132KV/33KV) transformers, leaving Kebbi and Sokoto States, as well as parts of Zamfara State, plunged into complete darkness.
The Secretary to the State Government emphasized the urgency of the situation, given the persistent power outage that the residents had endured for the past ten days. He acted on behalf of Governor Nasir Idris, who had instructed him to oversee the repair efforts, emphasizing the governor’s commitment to ensuring his people did not remain in darkness.
Bala-Tafida reassured the public of the governor’s unwavering support for any initiative that would bring joy and happiness to the constituents. He expressed satisfaction with the progress made by the team of engineers and revealed that their headquarters in Abuja had provided them with a two-week timeline to restore power. He called on the people to offer their prayers for the engineers to complete their task within the specified timeframe, expressing hope that the work would be finished as scheduled.
The Special Adviser on Political Affairs and Power, Kabiru Sani-Giant, commended the engineers for their dedicated commitment to the restoration work. He urged affected customers to exercise patience and consider the outage as a fate beyond human control. Sani-Giant also encouraged residents to adopt responsible electricity usage habits by turning off appliances when not in use to minimize energy wastage and the risk of fire incidents.
He pointed out the good practices of neighboring Niger Republic, where electricity users are disciplined in turning on bulbs only when necessary. To prevent damages during the power restoration process, the adviser promised to disseminate announcements through electronic media and other platforms, advising residents to switch off all appliances to safeguard their property.