Rep Explains Power Outage

The lawmaker repre
senting Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Kingsley Chinda has attributed the power outage in Port Harcourt and its environs to shortage of gas and the upgrading of facilities at the power stations.
Hon Chinda who stated this in a chat with Aviation Correspondents at the Port Harcourt International Airports, Omagwa, Monday, said the problem being experienced is the shortage in gas supply.
He also fingered vandalisation of equipment, sabotage and obsolete facilities as being responsible for the problem experienced in power supply and urged the residents to encourage the operators while government should be proactive.
The issue of power is such that you donot give what you don’t have, the Disco companies cannot give power because they only distribute what is generated and given to them. We have a peculiar problem in Rivers State as most of the power stations are experiencing one problem or the other,” he said.
The lawmaker who hails from Elelenwon in Obio/Akpor council area, said power supply is affected in the area because Shell Petroleum Development Company that supplies gas to the Afam Power Plant is undertaking upgrade of facilities and other parts of the State are equally affected.
On the oversight function of the lawmakers, Hon Chinda observed that the lawmakers cannot do much, although the National Assembly called for upgrade of facilities adding that the power providers need the encouragement  of Nigerians.
“I think the rivers State Government should have  come out clearly and inform the people even before the upgrading started. This is because we have the commissioner for power in the State to create the awareness,” he stated.
According to Hon Chinda,  the sector have been privatized, but you don’t have enough power to be distributed because there are several destruction of power facilities that will required maintenance to enable them evacuate power from the generation point.