Residents of Mika Sabon-Gida community in Pupule ‘B’ Ward, Yorro Local Government Area of Taraba State, on August 11, 2026, appealed to the Taraba State Government, Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) and other stakeholders to restore electricity after more than four months of blackout caused by a faulty transformer.
The prolonged power outage has disrupted businesses, strained household finances and contributed to the relocation of some young residents, according to community members who spoke about the crisis.
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Community leader Jauro Baki called on the state government, YEDC, elected representatives, philanthropists and other well-meaning individuals to intervene.
“We are calling on the state government, YEDC and other well-to-do individuals and our elected politicians to come to our aid by ensuring that power is restored to our community,” Baki said.
For small businesses and artisans, the absence of electricity has become more than an inconvenience.
Residents say many operators have been forced either to scale back their activities or rely on alternative power sources that they consider too expensive to sustain over a prolonged period.
Andrew Helikiah said the economic pressure had also affected the community’s younger population, with some residents choosing to leave in search of more viable opportunities elsewhere.
“Because of this, most of our young men and women have relocated from this community to somewhere else because their small businesses are no longer functioning due to the prolonged power outage,” Helikiah said.
Alhaji Babangida Aliyu Mika Mika, a community representative and former Special Adviser to the Executive Chairman of Yorro Local Government Area, described the situation as increasingly difficult for residents.
Mika said the faulty transformer has significance beyond Mika Sabon-Gida because it serves the community and provides an important electricity link to neighbouring areas around Yorro and Zing Local Government Areas.
“Our businesses are dying, and the economic growth of our people has been completely undermined. We have endured over four months without a functional power supply,” Mika said.
He urged the authorities to treat the matter as a wider public-interest concern and provide a replacement transformer as quickly as possible.
“We are calling on the relevant authorities to facilitate the immediate provision of a new transformer to bring life back into our community’s economy,” he added.
The impact comes against a broader backdrop of electricity challenges and infrastructure upgrades across Taraba and other parts of Nigeria’s North-East.
YEDC, which is licensed to distribute electricity across Adamawa, Borno, Taraba and Yobe states, says its mandate includes providing safe and reliable electricity while investing in infrastructure and network improvements.
The company’s published customer information also places Pupule, Yorro, Zing and surrounding communities within its Taraba distribution network, underscoring the importance of the area to its rural electricity operations.
Earlier in 2026, YEDC announced planned daytime interruptions in Adamawa, Taraba and Yobe linked to maintenance and upgrade work on the Jos-Bauchi-Gombe 330kV transmission line.
The scheduled work, which ran from April 9 to May 22, was separate from the community-level transformer failure reported by Mika Sabon-Gida residents.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria also reported in January that power supply to Taraba had been restored following an upgrade of the Yola-Mayo Belwa-Jalingo transmission line, including work involving newly installed 150MVA transformers at the Jalingo and Mayo Belwa transmission substations.
Those wider improvements offer important context, but residents of Mika Sabon-Gida say the benefits have yet to translate into a functional local supply because their immediate problem remains the failed transformer.
A senior YEDC officer in Taraba, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that the company was aware of the situation and said plans were already in place to replace the transformer.
“YEDC is aware that the transformer in Mika Sabon-Gida community in Yorro Local Government Council has been down, and the company has been working round the clock to replace it,” the officer said.
The officer added that YEDC was working towards restoring electricity but directed further enquiries to the company’s headquarters in Yola, Adamawa State, because the official spokesperson is based there.
YEDC’s official website confirms that the company is responsible for electricity distribution in Taraba and three other North-Eastern states, with its headquarters located in Jimeta, Yola.
For Mika Sabon-Gida residents, however, the immediate concern is the wait for a replacement transformer.
After more than four months without functional electricity, community members say restoring power would provide much-needed relief to households, revive struggling businesses and help young people who have been forced to reconsider their future in the community.
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They are now looking to the Taraba State Government, YEDC, elected representatives and private benefactors to turn the promise of intervention into a functioning electricity supply.
