00:07Life has not been the same for the past few months for Yabu Sani, a tailor and dressmaker
00:12at the Yelwa Market in Garowa.
00:14He is no longer able to work or satisfy his customers due to the recurring power cuts.
00:21I have a tailor workshop, but it's not up and running at the moment.
00:25Why isn't it working?
00:27Because we need electricity, but we don't have any.
00:30We only get electricity for maybe three or four hours a day, so it's really difficult
00:35to work under these conditions.
00:39This is the tough reality shared by all the businesses at the market and the surrounding
00:44areas.
00:45The customer, what the customer needs is very difficult.
00:49Very difficult because you cannot do everything.
00:51You cannot wash the hair, you cannot use the eye dryer because there's no light.
00:56And we are, we don't know how to do again because this situation is going now around
01:01three months.
01:02With what is going on now, I cannot even work again.
01:05My business is stopped.
01:07And I have to check and look another way to, to, to try to satisfy my customers.
01:18All our products are damaged.
01:20Just look at the state of the fish.
01:21They are no longer presentable.
01:23Under these circumstances, we are losing a great deal.
01:27Some products simply become unsellable.
01:29There are goods that we are forced to set aside, a situation that has been going on for nearly
01:34three months.
01:35We are really disappointed.
01:36The Lagdo Dam, built between 1978 and 1984, supplies three northern regions with a capacity
01:46of 82 megawatts.
01:48Its purpose was hydroelectric power generation, flood control and irrigation.
01:53Standing 40 meters high and 297 meters long, the dam has for some years now been unable to
02:01meet 80 percent of its goals.
02:03In 2021 and 2022, we faced the most critical deficit from this side.
02:14So actually, what we are facing as low shading, it is just because the lagdo due to water cannot
02:27generate a high level, and actually the level of water is too low, and we are managing to avoid a
02:38crack within this month of May.
02:41According to experts, the dam is no longer able to maintain a normal water level, which
02:46is affecting power generation.
02:49Admittedly, the power station is over 40 years old.
02:52But I would like to reassure you that all four turbines are operational and capable of generating
02:57power at their rated capacity.
03:00Maintenance work is carried out on a regular basis.
03:02However, what is currently limiting production is the low water level.
03:07The water shortage means we are unable to bring all four turbines online.
03:12As a contingency plan, Eneo has built a diesel-fired power station in Garowa to supply electricity
03:18to the northern regions for the next few months.
03:23Unfortunately, these plans are not enough.
03:26Experts recommend solar power for a region that enjoys sunshine for nine months out of the year.
03:34Getting around town hasn't been easy for some time now.
03:37When there is no electricity, we are sometimes forced to use generators.
03:40But these machines run on fuel, which has become very expensive.
03:43We don't know which way to turn.
03:46Given that the region has the Lagdo dam, we would like to have a stable electricity supply.
03:51There is often talk of silting at Lagdo.
03:53But we should also consider other sources of energy.
03:56Here in northern Cameroon, we have plenty of sunshine.
04:00For now, Cameroonian authorities have moved to take control of the main electricity provider.
04:06As the communities continue to call for diversified power supply that would end the extended outages.
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