By Giwa SHILE
Residents of Eket Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom have decried poor power outage in the area.
The people expressed their feeling in Eket, Akwa Ibom on Tuesday.
They said that the poor power outage had paralysed social and economic activities in the Eket and its environs in the last weeks.
Mr Samson Asuqwu, a barber in Eket, said that poor power supply had crippled his business, adding that he spent so much buying fuel in his generator.
Asuqwu said that he spent about N50, 000 every week to fuel his generator to barb customers in Eket for the past two weeks.
“Poor power supply has been terrible recently in Eket, and when I went to Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) to lay complaint, nobody attended to me,” he said.
Mrs Josephine Akpan, who operates a Beer parlour , said that power outage had also paralysed her business, adding that she no longer sell beer due to poor power outage.
“Customers no longer come to my beer parlour because of poor outage in the area recently.
“When they enter my shop, they will first ask if my drinks are cold, if I say no, they will just leave my business premises and go to somewhere else where there is power supply,” she said.
She, however, said even though there was poor power outage; PHEDC had continued to bring outrageous bills to her business premises.
In similar vein, Mr Emeka Chike, an Eket resident said the effect poor power outage in the last two weeks had brought about heat and rashes to his body.
“I can’t even sleep at night due to poor power outage and this has resulted to rashes all over my body.
“It is very sad that upon all the outrageous bills by the Power Holding, yet the company cannot give us steady power supply in Eket,” Chike said.
He called on the Federal Government to come to their aid, saying that new transformers should be installed to change the faulty ones in the area.
Responding, Mr John Onyi, Manager, Corporate Communications of PHEDC, said the current outage experienced in Eket was due to system failure from the grid.
“I wish to inform our valued customers and indeed, members of public that the current outage being experienced in Eket and its environs is due to system failure from the grid.
He cited to Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) as his source to buttress his point.
Onyi, however, promised that effort was being made by the TCN to ensure restoration of power soonest.
He expressed regret the inconveniences the poor power outage might have caused members of the public and appealed for patience.
