The residents of Gladys Kalesanwo Street, Agura/Gberigbe in Ikorodu local government area of Lagos have protested against the planned running of high-tension wires on their narrow street by Ewu-Agbo Community Development Association.
The residents also accused the officials of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) of conniving with Ewu-Agbo CDA to illegally install cables by allegedly issuing it (Ewu-Agbo CDA) the approval without following the due process.
In a petition entitled ‘Save our soul on dangerous erection of high tension cables,’ dated May 27, 2019 and signed by Messrs. Fatai Adebayo and Michael Obiorah, the chairman and general secretary of respectively of Gladys Kalesanwo Street, Agura/Gberigbe residents’ association, the community accused Ewu-Agbo CDA of attempting to put their lives in danger by insisting on mounting the high tension cables in violation of extant law.
The petition, which was sent to the managing director of IKDC, Alausa, Ikeja, was received by the front desk office of the company on May 28, 2019.
According to the residents, the approval was illegal as the street the officials of the distribution company in conjunction with the Ewu-Agbo Community wanted to mount the high tension cables is less than 30ft wide, as opposed to 60ft approved by the law.
The petitioners said houses were already built on the available land before the installation of the cables and advised the Ewu-Agbo Community to make use of the alternative roads, which they claim are wide enough to accommodate such a project.
According to the petitioners, the alternative roads are Iyana-Odo Road, Igbota Road, CPI Road and several other options.
“But, investigation by the members of the street indicated that the purported approval could not have been given for such a gigantic project based on the diameter of the street in question and inherent danger to the inhabitant of the street,” said the petitioners.
“Our street is less than 30 feet wide with structures already built on the land, which makes it inappropriate and dangerous for such a project. Besides, we the members of the community are not comfortable with the erection of any high tension cables on our street by the Ewu-Agbo residents, especially as it has to do with the safety of lives the residents of our community.
“Apart from the fact that the poles are obstructing vehicular movement on the road, we all know how injuries high tension cables can be to the residents, especially when houses were already fully built in such areas before the coming of the proposed project.
“However, we drew the attention of the Ewu-Agbo Community to the danger inherent in continuing with the project both verbally and written, but all to no avail. Despite our official letter, the Ewu-Agbo Community still insists on continuing with the dangerous project to the detriment of our residents.”
The residents said Ewu-Agbo Community claimed to have duly received an approval for the project, but wondered why the approval was still hidden away from them despite their request to get a copy of it.
Besides, the petitioners said they had they had hitherto written an official letter to the Ijede and Ebute offices of IKEDC, all within Ikorodu area.
However, they said they did not get any favourable feedback.
Instead, they said officials of the distribution company sent some personnel to inspect the areas.
The petitioners quoted the officials as saying that the installation of high tension cables in a densely populated area is not hazardous to health.
The residents therefore appealed to the IKEDC managing director of IKDC to “use his good offices to intervene on the matter” stressing that their lives would be endangered by the “illegal” installation of the cables.
