Youth Attack Throws Rivers, Bayelsa Into Darkness

Few days after some Ahoada youths forced the closure of a Transmission Station in Ahoada Town, Ahoada-East Local Government Area of Rivers State, which resulted in the complete loss of power supply to Yenagoa and some parts of Rivers State, another group of community youth from Afam in Oyigbo Local Government Area has shut down Afam Transmission Station, thereby throwing the entire Port Harcourt metropolis into darkness.
The Tide gathered that the youth, who claimed to be members of Oyigbo Youth Assembly (OYA) stormed the Afam Transmission Station in Oyigbo Local Government Area at 10:34 am, last Monday morning and barricaded the station.
The youth claimed that the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) refused to supply Afam communities power over non-payment of electricity bills, thereby violating an earlier agreement with the Federal Government.
Speaking with The Tide, last Monday, the Manager, Corporate Communications, PHED, John Onyi regretted the incident, saying that it was becoming the order of the day any time PHED initiates disconnection of power supply to the community following the non-payment of electricity bills in the last four years.
Onyi noted that in January, 2017, a similar action was meted out to electricity users when the youth in their large number, forcefully asked the operator on duty to shut down the entire station.
The spokesman explained that the value of energy being wheeled to the community based on the statistical meter on their feeder was over N5.8billion cumulatively with an average consumption of over N140million monthly.
According to him, ’’Each time an attempt is made to enumerate the community for the purpose of accounting for the energy and sustainability of the power industry, it is always met with resistance from them.
“Worrisome also is the fact that all the commercial outfits in the area such as cold rooms, hotels, hospitals, welders, schools, among others, are not allowed to pay for energy consumed, yet, they are smiling to the banks with the proceeds of their businesses.
“On several occasions at different places, spanning over two years, meetings were held with relevant stakeholders, including the OYA in other to explain the implication of not allowing PHED to collect its money, yet, they pretend not to understand’’, he added.
Onyi said PHED was in business, adding that the survival of any business entity in the world thrives when customers pay for services rendered
He assured that the distribution firm will continue to engage its customers to foster collective growth through the provision of electricity to legitimate consumers.
According to him, “It must be noted that electricity supply is not free,” as he appealed to Oyigbo Youth Assembly to vacate the Afam Transmission Station with a view to returning normal social and economic activities to Port Harcourt metropolis and its environs.
Meanwhile, Bayelsa residents have lamented the adverse effect of prolonged power outages on their economic and social lives.
Our correspondent reports that power supply to the state was cut off from the national grid on Jan. 23.
Many small business operators told our correspondent yeysterday in Yenagoa that the development had adversely affected their businesses, which was worsened by high cost of petrol.
Miss Faith Okodion, who runs a hair dressing shop in Yenagoa said the power outages had thrown her temporarily out of business.
“The power situation has become unbearable; it has been worsened by the fuel scarcity, so when you buy fuel at between N250 and N300 per litre and add it to the cost, people will not be able to afford it.
“For one week now, I have not seen any job to do because I don’t have the money to buy petrol and I am just praying that power is restored,” Okodion said.
Mr James Michael, an operator of a frozen food store at Onopa area of Yenagoa said that he lost all the products he stocked for sale within the first few days of the outage.
“I have few kilogrammes of fish, meat and chicken when the problem started, my first reaction is to buy 10 litres of fuel to preserve them hoping that power will return, but after the third day power was not restored.
“I hoped to sell off the stock but failed because customers did not turn up and it was economically unjustifiable to be buying fuel, so the loss has been too much to bear,’’ Michael said.
However, the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) told our correspondent that the power outage in Bayelsa and parts of Rivers was inevitable.
Mr John Onyi, the Manager, Corporate Communications, PHEDC attributed the outage to the handiwork of Ahoada Youths, who shut down one of the transmission stations.
Onyi said prior to the incident, one of the two 40WM transformers serving the state was faulty, which reduced the capacity of the firm to distribute power by half.
Onyi said the utility company was incapacitated by the restive youths who threw the public into darkness.
He said residents in Bayelsa and some parts of Rivers were served by the transmission station located in Ahoada community in Rivers, which had been without power supply since Jan. 23.
Onyi said efforts by the utility firm to dialogue with the youths, who allegedly attacked the station to protest irregular power supply were unsuccessful.
He urged the Bayelsa government to wade into the issue.
“Therefore, the management of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company is calling on the security agencies and indeed the government of Bayelsa to wade into the matter.
“The forceful closure of the transmission station located inside Ahoada by a group of youths has led to complete loss of power supply to Yenagoa.
“The forced outage has not only affected the state capital, but also the adjoining communities in the state and some parts of Rivers, namely Isiokpo, Emuoha, Elele, among others.
“The stick-wielding youths came out en-masse early Tuesday morning, chanting war songs, blocked and barricaded the transmission station with fetish items.
“In the process, they forced the operators on duty to switch off the entire station. This action of the youths led to the loss of 132kv lines supplying power to Yenagoa.
“Ever since, all efforts made by the management of PHEDC to get the matter resolved have been met with further threats from the youths,” Onyi said.
The PHEDC official lamented that protests in the Niger Delta region over load allocation from the national grid, which leads to realistic systemic load shedding by the DISCO was becoming too frequent.
He said residents had always demanded for 24-hour power supply without corresponding payments, and efforts made by the company to explain the electricity value chain appear not to be understood.
“Surprisingly, the debt profile of the Ahoada community as at December 2017 stands at over N7.6 billion, yet the youths have not deemed it necessary to tell their people that they should settle their outstanding debts.
“Electricity has been misconstrued in some quarters to be free and not to be paid for whereas it should not be so,” Onyi said.

Ike Wigodo & Tonye Nria-Dappa