Umuahia Biz Operators Count Losses Over Power Outage

Cold room operators in Umuahia, have called on the Federal Government to save their businesses from collapse by finding sustainable solutions to continued power outages in the city.

According to sources, reports, Umuahia has been without power supply for more than four days, a situation that has affected businesses in the area.

Mrs. Patricia Ubani, a cold room operator told newsmen that she already lost millions of naira to power outages.

“Going to one week now, there is no light in Umuahia. We have been experiencing it so it’s not news again to us.

“It affects our business anyway because the little income that would have been coming to the business we use it to buy diesel in order to preserve the fish.

“So we have been managing all along thinking that NEPA will improve but the improvement is not even in sight. So we keep everything in the hand of God.’’

Ubani noted that people trading in frozen foods needed constant power supply to keep the business afloat, and urged PHCN to rectify the problem.

“I wouldn’t know if it is from their generating house. We need the light because if NEPA serves you for two hours, you will be sure of your goods, unlike using generator, which is just a standby thing that will keep the goods for only a while,’’ Ubani said.

Miss Tobechi Okereke, a sales girl at Ndu-Amaka Frozen Foods, told newsmen  that she lost at least N500,000 because of the erratic power supply in the city which made her frozen chicken and fish to go bad. “Our cold room even got burnt as a result of this same problem and it affected us so badly.

“When something like this happens, your customers lose confidence in you and they will no longer patronise your business. “We spend more than N10,000 within a few hours on a daily basis and this eats into our profit,” Okereke said.

In his remarks, Mr. Ibeabuchi Onovo, a PHCN Public Affairs Executive, blamed the poor power supply situation in Umuahia on a clash between PHCN employees and some military personnel. He however, said that constant power supply would soon be restored to the city.

Last November 30, some military officers engaged PHCN employees in a free-for-all at the Afara Umuahia Injector sub-station over power supply issues.