The youths in Omu-Aran in Irepodun local government area of Kwara State, led by two masquerades, on Friday protested what they termed outrageous billing and sudden movement of the community’s electricity billing regime from Band C to Band A.
The protesters were seen gathered at Bareke Roundabout in the metropolis carrying placards with various inscriptions amidst dancing and singing of war songs.
Some of the inscriptions on the placards reads: ‘Omu-Aran Says No to Band A’, ‘Bring Back to Band C’, ‘Revert Omu-Aran to Band C’. ‘Omu-Aran Youths Have Spoken Loudly’.
The youths were of the believe that the sudden movement of the electricity billing from Band C to Band A was responsible for the outrageous bills received for the month of March, 2025.
They alleged that there were many unresolved challenges militating against uninterrupted electricity supply across designated areas of the community before the sudden movement of the billing regime.
The protesters, who were peaceful and orderly while the protest lasted, vehemently rejected an attempt to be escorted by police personnel and some other security agencies.
The current charges on some of the electricity bills gathered by the youths and sighted by our reporter were between the range of N41,000 to N47,000 for the month of March as against the old rate of between N10,000 to N15,000.
The protest took the youths to major streets in the community such as the Olomu Market, Latinwo Market Area, Olomu palace, as well as the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC)’s District office located inside Omu-Aran City Complex.
The protesters also blocked some major highways leading to neighbouring states including Omu-Aran-Kabba Highway as well as Omu-Aran-Otun-Ekiti Highway which forced motorists and travellers to wait for hours.
They vowed to continue with the protest until their demands and grievances were addressed by IBEDC and the community leaders.
Some of their demands, according to a statement signed by the President of Omu-Aran Development Association, Mr Niyi Adeyeye and Elder Ranti Adebayo, included replacement of faulty transformers leading to inconsistent electricity supply in some key areas of the community.
Others are reversion of the billing from Band A to the previous Band C and improvement of electricity supply, suspension of Band A billings and review of the current charges to reflect the old billing regime.
Other demands included independent review of IBEDC service delivery in Omu-Aran to assess the relevance of the proper tariff regime classification, immediate stoppage of overdraft purchase on pre-paid meters as well as stoppage of electricity consumers purchasing materials for faulty electricity equipments.
The Olomu of Omu-Aran, Oba Abdulraheem Adeoti, while receiving the protesters in his palace, appealed for calm, saying that the community leaders were already discussing with the IBEDC officials on the need to address the issues.
He urged the youths to exercise restraints and wait for the outcome of the intervention by the community leaders.
When contacted, the Omu-Aran business manager of IBEDC, Mr A. O. Badmus said he was not authorised to speak on the issue and directed our reporter to the IBEDC Kwara State Communication Officer, Mr Gbenga Ajiboye.
Ajiboye in his reactions said the issue of electricity regulation remained the sole responsibility of the National Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC).
“They (NERC) are the one who does regulation, monitoring and enforcement. There is nothing we can do on our own as far as regulation is concerned in the state” , he said.
He added that electricity consumers enjoying 20 hours of electricity supply are regulated by NERC to be on Band A in which Omu-Aran community is categorised presently.
Ajiboye described the development as a business issue between buyers and sellers, noting that high level discussion was already ongoing to resolve the issue amicably.
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