News
Consumers Owe PHED N16bn In Rivers …As Firm Plans To Install .4m Pre-Paid Metres

Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Plc has lamented that energy consumers in Rivers State alone were owing the company more than N16billion on defaults from bills payment.
The energy company also said that the huge debts were negatively impacting on its ability to meet statutory obligations to consumers in the state, just as it was at the same time constraining its capacity to procure sufficient feedstock from power generating companies and necessary equipment to provide steady electricity supply to the people in the four franchise states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River and Rivers.
Managing Director of PHED, Engr Henry Ajagbawa gave this indication while granting audience to the management of Rivers State Newspaper Corporation (RSNC) during a courtesy visit to the DisCo at its corporate headquarters on Moscow Road, Port Harcourt, last Friday.
Represented at the occasion by the Chief Services Officer, Ochuko Amah, the managing director said that despite the staggering debt profile, PHED has procured more than 400,000 new pre-paid metres from metre manufacturers (MAP Vendors), under the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)-approved National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), for installation to reduce the number of unmetred consumers from the present number of over one million consumers.
Ajagbawa said that already, PHED has installed more than 149,000 pre-paid metres in homes and offices of desiring customers, just as it has procured and installed new transformers, feeders, built new substations and repaired or replaced poles, cables of various sizes and types, automatic circuit reclosers, conductors, risers, personal protective equipment (PPEs), and operational vehicles.
He said, “We have imported several 2MVA to 1000MVA transformers to boost distribution capacity in our network efficiency. We have installed 59 distribution substations, and despite the serious vandalisation of our facilities, we have been able to replace and or repair a lot of them. Then, with the support of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Rivers State Government, we have installed a 60MVA substation at Rumuosi in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area. We have installed over 149,000 pre-paid metres for our customers.
“We are also in talks for a bilateral agreement with the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) and First Independent Power Company Limited (FIPC) to evacuate 100MW and 20MW electricity, respectively, within our contract area.
“Then, more recently, with the support of the Federal Government, we are undertaking projects worth billions of Naira to optimize our network operations and upgrade and rehabilitate our injection substations in line with our Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) programme.”
Ajagbawa further explained that, “On our operations within the system, we have been able to overhaul our PPEs. We have procured over 1,000 PPEs and 345 ladders for our technical staff; we have remodeled our feeder offices, and we have added a new edifice to our corporate headquarters complex, which was built within four months in 2021.
“We have been able to promote 722 staff in 2021; 62 in August, 2021, and 66 in January, 2022. We have launched our engineering training scheme where we train young and fresh engineers from schools. We have 25 already undergoing training in our facility for 2022.”
The managing director also gave details of the challenges PHED was facing in efforts to provide essential services to the people in the four states, saying, “We have massive vandalisation of our facilities in communities and huge energy theft by the rich and poor not just in Rivers State but across all our franchise states. In fact, metre bypass is a major problem for us.
“We also have a huge number who do not like to pay their electricity bills, including individuals and corporate organisations and agencies in both private and public sectors. We have regular attacks and assault on our staff doing their legitimate duties, because people are not willing to pay for services rendered to them. Since we know we are doing the right thing, as we get reports of such attacks, we try to arrest the attackers through the aid of security agencies, and take them to court to secure justice for our staff,” Ajagbawa added.
By: Nelson Chukwudi
News
I’m Committed To Community Dev – Ajinwo
News
RSG Tasks Rural Dwellers On RAAMP …As Sensitization Team Visits Akulga, Degema, Three Others

Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
News
Senate Replaces Natasha As Committee Chairman

The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.
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