Residents of four communities in Katsina State have taken to the streets to protest what they describe as six months of total darkness, saying the prolonged power outage has crippled daily life and deepened hardship.
Hundreds of residents gathered in Barhim on Sunday, demanding immediate restoration of electricity to Abuja Quarters, Barhim Layout, Sha’iskawa, and Tigirmis Quarters. They vowed to continue pressing for swift government intervention to end what they called an avoidable and painful ordeal.
Council Chairman, Yahaya Kawo, confirmed awareness of the crisis and assured residents that efforts were underway to resolve the issue “this week.”
Protesters said the outage has thrown more than 5,000 households into severe difficulty, worsening water scarcity and heightening insecurity across the communities.
A community representative, Malam Usman Mohammad-Alqasim, described the situation as intolerable, noting that families have endured months of disruption without clear communication from authorities.
“For about six months now, thousands of people in these communities have been cut off from the national grid without any clear explanation,” he said.
He attributed the outage to illegal structures built under a 33kV line, which the state government had ordered demolished before the exercise was halted midway.
“Some structures were removed, but work suddenly stopped after the intervention of the Batagarawa council chairman, Alhaji Yahaya Kawo,” he added.
Mohammad-Alqasim said the chairman had informed residents that funds were approved to relocate the power line, yet no action has been taken, leaving the wider communities in prolonged darkness while some of the previously marked houses now enjoy electricity.
The Village Head of Barhim Layout, Malam Sirajo Aminu, said the blackout has increased theft and worsened insecurity in the affected areas.
“If not for a few concerned individuals, the suffering would have been much worse. Many residents can barely access water,” he said.
Aminu appealed to the state government to restore electricity and provide essential infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and proper drainage systems.