Brownites these days have been praying against any force that might want to cause a power outage. We have experienced and reached that stage of acceptance that come what may, the big generator capable of powering the blocks and rooms will at no point, for any reason, come on if there is a power outage.
Of course, there have been speculations, murmurs, and rumors flying around. “The generator is not in working conditions.”, “There is no fuel.” While some are true, some have proven to be false. But the one question that seems to be on everybody’s mind is ‘What exactly happened to the generator?’.
Exclusive interviews with the previous and current ABH hall chair helped shed more light on the reason for the situation.
An interview with the previous Hall Chairman, Mr. Jegede, who recently handed it over confirmed that the generator was in good condition. He noted there was an issue with the generator due to long disuse. He stated the reason for the disuse and attributed it to NASU being on strike. In the interview, he said, “Although UCH light wasn’t this bad during my tenure, we were still able to benefit from a good supply of fuel from the University. He stated the hall has not been receiving funds due to the University being on strike.” He stated that fueling the generator would require a lot of money which the hall could not afford.
And agreeing with the rumors about the state of the generator house, the previous Hall Chairman stated that indeed, there was a problem with the roof, however, this problem happened after the supply of fuel was cut off. “The hall warden got some fuel and wanted to power the generator for some time during the period of a prolonged power outage but discovered that the generator had developed a fault. This was because of rain entering the generator house.”, he stated.
Mr. Jegede then ended the interview by stating that the generator was in proper working conditions upon handing over as every repair necessary was done.
The current Hall Chairman, Mr. Salami shared in an interview that the generator is indeed in good working condition. When asked if a similar situation were to occur, he stated, “There are criteria for turning on the generator, one of which is there must be a 24-hour blackout. We must also be sure that there won’t be light subsequently. If the situation does not meet the criteria necessary, the generator might not come on.”
He attributed this to the fact that the University supplies only two days’ worth of fuel per month, emphasizing that the fuel must be rationed and used only in situations where that is the only option left. He noted that currently, there is no fuel in the generator due to the NASU strike.
Ending the interview, Mr. Salami stated, “moving forward, if a situation arises where there has been a power outage and does not necessarily meet the criteria, we can come together and see a way out.”