Protesters Shut PHED Station In Diobu

Thousands of protesters drawn from various streets in Diobu, in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area Wednesday shut down the UTC substation of Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) over the epileptic power supply in the area.
The protesters, who carried placards with various inscriptions, also expressed their outrage over the high electricity bills and extortion by officials of the company.
The protesters, who later stormed the premises of The Tide, Silverbird Television and some Radio Stations, threatened to blacklist the company in the area, warning that officials of the company will no longer be allowed into any of the streets in Diobu to collect bills.
The leader of the protesters, Mr. Chizi Ezeh, said that the company was not living up to the expectation of providing light to the people, stating that no household in Diobu will be made to pay electricity bills, if the station did not improve.
In their separate speeches, Mr. Wisdom Akpan and Hon. Innocent Jagu said that the protest was to draw PHED’s attention to the issue of poor electricity supply in the Diobu area of Port Harcourt.
They claimed that PHED has not been giving electricity to residents of the area but takes delight in extoring money from the poor people, who are forced to pay bills as high as N5,000 to N30,000 per month.
The alleged that PHED officials were found of giving the people light a day or two before serving them bills to pay.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government recently approved increase in electricity tariff across the country, just as it also acknowledged early this week that power generation has dropped to 2,450MW.
The drop in power generation, The Tide, learnt may ultimately affect the government’s goal of uninterrupted power supply to Nigerians, and undermine the power reform agenda.

Residents of Diobu protesting at Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution, station over poor power supply and high bills last Wednesday