By Sah Terence Animbom
The North West region has lost the full power supply few days after it had enjoyed it for close to three years, with very minimal power cuts. For about a month now, the region is witnessing a very epileptic power supply trend as the power supply company has resorted to rationing electricity supply to some quarters of the region at certain hours of the day.
This is due to a reported sabotage of a 30KVA power transmission pylon around Santa Sub Division by unknown men.
Reacting to agitations from the North West Bamenda inhabitants, the electricity supply company has said it is only in charge of distribution and that government is responsible for the repairs of the 30 and 9KVA transmission pylons. The government company in charge of the repairs seems to be scared of the escalating insecurity around Santa and Akum, reason whythe pylon is yet to be repaired.
ENEO has resorted to using the over 30 giant generators installed at the transmission center in Bamenda to supply the region. They however say the generators are not sufficient due to the high power demand of the region.
Mbengwi in Momo division has been witnessing sever power outage as well as Nkambe in Ndonga Mantung division. Menchum division too is facing a serious setback due to the very epileptic power supply. Bambili recently went for 11 days without power supply, greatly affecting student life in the locality. (The University of Bamenda is located in Bambili which harbours over 30,000inhabitants including students of the University).
Before a month ago, most of the North West region could boast of constant power supply without power cuts for months. The city of Bamenda at sometime went for five months without a single power outage, though some divisions like Boyo, Donga Mantung, and Menchum hardly went for a week without hours of power failure.
However it would seem a greater part of the North West population generally agreed that the constancy in power supply had greatly increased between 2015 and 2019.
The escalation of the Anglophone crisis has hampered the services of the lone power supply company in the country as most of their staff in the troubled North West and South West regions have been forced to flee their work posts abandoning equipment. In most divisions of the North West and South West, electricity bills have not been paid for over a year now, though the company has been doing well to at least supply energy to the whole regions