By Omen Bassey.
Residents and natives of Oro Nation(Mbo, Okobo, Oron, Udung Uko
and Urueoffong/ Oruko Local Government Areas) of Akwa Ibom State are presently
living with the agony of near total absence of electricity supply and payment
of high bills while the rest of the state enjoys improved supply.
On 27th November, 2017, a youths leader in the area, Mr Samuel Duncan took
to his facebook wall to lament how Oro people pay for light every month without
enjoying the service they pay for. The post states:
"The light situation in Oro is terribly sad. We must have
light for at least 15 days in a month before we pay. Stop paying for
darkness"
The post elicited several comments from residents of the area
who corroborated the harrowing experience of paying bills to Port Harcourt
Electricity Distribution Company( PHEDC) without enjoying anything near
commensurate power supply.
"Imagine those touts extorting money from people in the
name of bills. They seem not to understand the word "bills" which
simply means money for something you have used".One of the Commentators, Mr Effiong Matthew queried.
"What's the way out of this mess. I'm tired of paying for
darkness". Another commentator, Doris Franco fumed.
Speaking with this Reporter on the phone, a community leader and
Abuja based Publisher, Chief Windy Isong lamented
the poor power situation in Oro Nation. According to him, power supply is a
very rare occurrence in the area even when residents pay exorbitant bills to
the Distribution Company. He frowned at a situation where poor people were made
to pay for a service they rarely enjoy. He added that the refusal of Port
Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company( PHEDC) to supply prepaid metres to
consumers in line with the directive of the federal government has created room
for the company to impose arbitrary and fraudulent charges on the people in the
face of non existent or annoyingly poor service.
He explained that staying in his house in Oron town for one
month exerted heavily on his purse as a result of high expenditure on fuel in
addition to bills paid to PHEDC for light that is rarely enjoyed. He said it
was cruel of the company to expect people to spend so much on fuel and pay such
bills to them at the same time. He warned PHEDC to desist from defrauding the
people while calling on government to take urgent steps to address the pathetic
situation. He opined that PHEDC should stop extorting money from the people if
it cannot supply commensurate amount of power to their homes, offices and
shops.
While adding his voice to this knotty issue on Mr Duncan's
facebook wall, Mr E-ssenz Sambaz Samuel made an attempt to proffer solution
thus:
"The light/billing issue in Oro is a matter of concern but
then the truth be told. The solution is staring us at the face but nobody is
concerned about it. Somebody should please tell our leaders to bring a 132 KV
Transmission Station to Oron and your light situation is buried for life. Even
if PHEDC wills out 24 hrs supply to Oron, one way or the other, the supply will
be suspended and disrupted along the line (Eket- Oron Road) due to unhealthy
lengthy 33 KV Line..." "Let's stand up and fight for dedicated 132
Transmission Station in Oro" He concluded.
In fact, most of the facebook commentators advocate a protest
against PHEDC.
Upon investigation, this Reporter identified two major problems
associated with power supply and consumption in Oro Nation as highlighted by Mr
Samuel Duncan in his post and corroborated by all the Respondents. First,
there's hardly anything called electricity supply in Oro Nation.
Secondly, despite the marauding darkness, PHEDC still
heartlessly charges the deprived consumers probably higher than those who enjoy
a fairly steady and predictable supply in other parts of the State.
Further investigations reveal that the entire Oro area is fed by
the Transmission Station located in Eket. Sadly, it is the longest 33 KVA
network in Akwa Ibom State and may be Nigeria. This unusually long transmission
line spans Eket, Nsit Ubium, Esit Eket, Mbo, Urueoffong/ Oruko, Okobo and Udung
Uko Local Government Government Areas. Since the transmission in Eket has not
been expanded to accommodate the loads in the afore-mentioned areas coupled
with the unhealthy length of the line, network would always trip on "Earth
Fault at closure". It's so bad that the entire Oro Nation is allocated a
paltry 5 hours power supply daily. And many times, residents neither experience
nor expect power supply for days and even weeks.
According to a reliable and competent source who corroborated Mr
E-ssenz Sambaz Samuel's submission, the poor power situation in Oro Nation
cannot be solved unless government builds a 132/33 KVA Transmission Station in
Oron town with 2×15 MVA Injection Substations in each of Okobo, Urueoffong/
Oruko, Mbo and Udung Uko Local Government Areas while the existing 1×7.5 MVA
substation in Oron town should be upgraded to at least 2×7.5 MVA.
INVOLVEMENT OF THE AKWA IBOM STATE GOVERNMENT.
Our source said the government of Deacon Udom Emmanuel goofed by building a
transmission station in Ekparakwa ostensibly to feed the envisaged industries
in Onna and Mkpat Enin Local Government Areas while the whole of the Oro area
is completely neglected. He opined that all the Governor needed to do was to
build a dedicated 33 KVA feeder from the Eket substation to Onna while a new
substation built in Oron would have relieved the one in Eket which would then
be available to feed Onna and Mkpat Enin.
GOVERNMENT'S POWER PROJECTS AND IBAKA DEEP SEAPORT.
Our source added that nothing confirms the unwillingness of the Udom Emmanuel
administration to undertake the proposed Ibaka Deep Seaport project like its
skewed power and road projects. On power, he stated that there was no way the
Governor would be building a transmission station in far away Ekparakwa while
Mbo or Oron is left bare if at all there was any plan to build a Seaport and
Industrial City or even site any reasonable industrial concern in the area in
the foreseeable future. He noted that the seaport/industrial city project
cannot even be contemplated without a transmission station in Oron or Mbo Local
Government Area.
THE WAY FORWARD.
Since the problem is largely that of transmission which is within the purview
of the federal government, the onus is on our federal legislators to take up
the issue with the Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing. They owe the
people this duty. If nobody at that level talks about such a weighty and
economically important issue, solution may not be in sight. Our people will
continue to grope in darkness while poverty resulting from failing or
struggling businesses reign supreme.
Moreso, since there can be no industrialisation without adequate
power supply, the Akwa Ibom State Government shouldn't wait for the federal
government if Oro Nation has any place in its much publicized industrialisation
agenda,unless the seaport and industrial city projects are mere gimmicks as
many believe. Afterall, the same state government is building a transmission
station in Ekparakwa. "What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the
gander".
While the issue of transmission is being sorted out by relevant
authorities, there's need for PHEDC to desist from fraudulent and arbitrary
billing of already cheated consumers. People shouldn't be made to pay for what
they don't enjoy. The Company should make the prepaid metres available to every
consumer in line with the directive of government or suspend further billing
until that is done.
Oro Nation deserves power supply like the rest of the state. Is
it a coincidence that we trail behind other parts of the state in politics,road
infrastructure, number and quality of schools, economic activities(despite huge
potentials), number of state enabled rich men and now power supply?
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