Residents of Kaduna State have lamented over the power outage in the capital city following a strike action by staff of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO).
The prolonged power outage has paralysed social and economic activities in the State.
Recall that the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) declared a three-day strike against the sacking of 900 of its members by the electricity distribution company.
The blackout also led to water shortage in parts of Kaduna metropolis and surrounding areas.
Women and children struggled to fetch water from the few boreholes powered by generators or solar energy in their neighbourhoods.
Aisha Muhammad, a resident of Tudun-wada, who spoke with our Correspondent, said she had to go to a neighbour’s house on Friday morning to beg before she was allowed to fetch one bucket of water.
Another resident, Mrs Stella Michael, said: “Even when you have the money, getting the water to buy is a problem as some private borehole owners are complaining over the cost of buying fuel.
“A cart of water now is sold for N2,500. We now manage water because it’s very difficult to even get the vendors.”
Also, a housewife, Maryam Abubakar, said her compound had a borehole but there was no electricity to power the water pumping machine.
Similarly, Musa Ibrahim, a businessman at the popular Central Market in Kaduna, said he had been buying water from vendors for the past three days.
“Everyday, I buy water worth N2,500 from vendors and we didn’t plan for this, you can imagine spending N2,500 on buying water alone daily,” Ibrahim lamented.
He added, “Sometimes, my children even go to school late as I have to go out looking for water vendors. This is what we are facing.”
Mrs Aaron Danjuma, a resident of Narayi area of Kaduna, explained that she now find it difficult to grind grains due to the power outage.
Another housewife who identified herself as Hafsat said most of the tomatoes and meat stored in her freezer were going bad due to the power outage.
Adamu Abdullahi, a meat seller at Sabo Market, also lamented the outage, saying that customers were no longer patronising them.
Meanwhile, the Kaduna State Government, on Thursday, waded into the matter to mediate between the electricity workers and their employers over the ongoing industrial dispute, which has left all its franchise States without electricity for four days.
The Deputy Governor, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, who hosted a meeting at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House, urged the union to restore power as soon as possible, emphasising the widespread negative impact of the outage on homes, businesses, and security in the State.
Dr Balarabe appealed to both the management of Kaduna Electric and the union to find a common ground, stressing the need for continuous dialogue even after the current dispute is resolved.