The Landlords' Association, Phase 1 Extension, Jikwoyi on Saturday gave the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) a 7-day ultimatum to fix the power problem that has been persistently ravaging the area or face legal action.

Addressing a press briefing, chairman of the association, Rufus Ebegba, also said that the association would make damage claim of N500,000,000 from the PHCN for the loss they have incurred as a result of the development.

"We're giving PHCN 7-day ultimatum. If the electricity problem is not restored, we'll have no option than to take a legal procedure against them. We'll take the matter to court and sue PHCN for the sum of N500,000,000 for general damages and other activities that have hampered our co-existence in this community," he said.

He said for a very long time now, PHCN has failed to carry out its responsibilities of ensuring adequate power supply in the area but engages in harassing residents of the area and extorting money from them.

"This community for the past years from 1998 to date has been providing electrical facilities for itself. All the poles and the cables in the community are efforts of the residents. The PHCN has capitalized on the situation to constantly harass and extort money from the residents.

"We're all aware of the federal government's commitment in the energy sector, but it is unfortunate that an arm of the government is sabotaging that effort. We believe that Nigerians must respond to this and ensure that this anomaly being perpetrated by PHCN is addressed," he said.

He stated further that in view of the development, members of the community were fed up and called on the government to intervene in the situation. "We're tired; let the government come into this matter."

The chairman, who said that the association is duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, added that currently there are serious damages in the electricity facilities in the area, which put the residents in blackout for some time now.

According to him, the association has made several efforts in contacting PHCN officials on the matter, but nothing has been done so far.

"We have made efforts both personal and in written form to their management. The state of some of the facilities here put the lives of residents in danger. Some of the poles and cables are all down, and they're not making any effort to solve the problem.

We said we'll provide wooden poles, but they said we must provide concrete ones. We refused to do that because the situation is very unbearable," he added.