Residents of Girei and Song Local Government Areas of Adamawa State on Monday barricaded the entrance to the Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) headquarters in Yola, disrupting operations over the prolonged blackout affecting their communities.
The protesters, who stormed the company’s office in large numbers, carried placards and sang solidarity songs as they demanded the immediate restoration of electricity after enduring more than two months without power.
The demonstration prevented employees and customers from accessing the premises, forcing workers to turn back as all entrances to the office were blocked.
The aggrieved residents accused YEDC of failing to fulfil repeated promises to restore electricity despite several meetings with community leaders and other stakeholders.
They insisted that previous engagements with the distribution company had yielded no tangible results and vowed to continue the protest until power is restored.
According to the protesters, the prolonged outage has crippled businesses, disrupted livelihoods, affected healthcare delivery, and made it difficult for students and artisans to carry out their daily activities.
They said they had lost confidence in YEDC’s ability to provide reliable electricity and called on the relevant authorities to revoke the company’s electricity distribution licence.
The protesters also appealed to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the Adamawa State Government, and other stakeholders to intervene urgently and ensure electricity is restored to the affected communities.
As of the time of filing this report, YEDC had yet to issue an official statement on the protest, while security personnel remained at the scene to maintain law and order.
