Residents and business owners in Benin City who rely on electricity from Ossiomo Power are reeling from the effects of a four-day blackout, which has disrupted livelihoods and operations across various sectors.
Ossiomo Power, a 95-megawatt gas-fired power plant, supplies electricity to several key infrastructures in Edo State, including government offices, streetlights, the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), businesses, and residential areas.
The company is a joint venture between Jiangsu Communication Clean Energy Technology and Ossiomo Power & Infrastructure.
Since the outage began, affected consumers have expressed frustration over the lack of electricity, citing significant financial and operational losses.
A car wash operator in Benin City lamented the halt in his business activities due to the unavailability of water, stating, “I used to wash over 20 cars daily, but now I can’t even operate because there’s no water.”
Another affected resident, Don Osehobo, shared the financial toll the blackout has taken on his business. “Nobody buys drinks that are not cold. It is terrible,” he said, adding that he has been losing about N16,000 each day since the power supply was cut.
An employee of Ossiomo Power, who asked not to be named, confirmed that engineers were actively working to resolve the situation and restore electricity to the affected areas.
Meanwhile, the company’s spokesperson, identified only as Francis, declined to comment further, citing his current annual leave.
