It is now no longer news that it has been over a year since the ABH generator came on. Though it may have gone unnoticed in another time when power supply in the hospital was at its peak, the erratic power supply has made it hard to miss. Brownites now have to constantly pray, hope and depend on IBEDC for access to water and electricity. Some explanations were made by the Hall Chairperson, Mr Salami David in an interview that held shortly after his inauguration. But one has to wonder, in the last 8 months, what has changed?
In his earlier interview with the press, an explanation was put forward that the strike action by academic and non-academic staff prevented the university from supplying the hall with fuel amongst other things. However in a more recent interview, when asked why nothing had been done differently despite the fact that the strike action has being called off months ago, he reiterated that due to the hike in the price of diesel and the amount of diesel needed to power the generators, there had been a general cutdown to fuel supply by the university to different departments and halls of residence.
He also mentioned that the lack of water that now inevitably accompanies power outages is as a result of the dilapidating effect of the smaller generators on the pumps. In concluding the interview, the hall chairperson stated that as a way forward, letters had been written through the Hall Master to alumni to fund solar inverters for the pumps and the feedback had been positive. One can only hope that this process is fast-tracked.
However, it may be safe to say at this point that except a miracle happens in the form of an extremely generous philanthropist, the time of the ABH generator has come to end.
