Diobu Residents Lament Two-Weeks Power Outage

Some residents of Mile III
in Diobu area of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, have lamented what they described as over two-weeks power outage in the area.
Among the areas affected were Ojoto, Owo, Osina, Dim, Elechi, Ekwulobia and Nwokom streets.
Those in Elechi street said the outage in their area has lasted for months.
Some of the residents who spoke to The Tide in an interview at the weekend said the situation had compounded their socio-economic well-being.
A resident of Ojoto Street, Mr Charles Ibe, said: “for over two weeks now, we have not had electricity supply.”
Ibe said with the present acute fuel scarcity in Port Harcourt and most cities of the nation, to even get petrol to power their generators as alternative source of electricity remains a big challenge to residents of the area.
Another resident, Chief Maxwell Jonah, residing in Elechi street also in Mile III decried the situation, saying it had increased the hardship of the residents in view of the present economic hardship being faced by Nigerians under the present administration.
Mrs Grace Nsube, who operates a hair dressing salon in the area said the outage has affected her business and was making life miserable for her family.
You can see, for the past two weeks, there has been no light. How can I operate when to even see fuel to buy is another war altogether.”
She said: those who get the fuel have even increased the cost of their services and most customers complain of no money.”
Nsube appealed to the authorities of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) to come to the rescue of residents by restoring light in the area.
When our correspondent visited the office of Diobu Business Unit in D/Line, the Business Manager was said to have gone for an official assignment, but one of the Engineers confirmed the outage.
The source who pleaded anonymity explained that the cause of the outage was as a result of some damages in the transformer serving the area and said the company was making efforts to put the transformer in order.
He urged the residents of the affected areas to exercise some patience while the firm rectifies the fault.

Chris Oluoh