The country home of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Otuoke, in Ogbia local government area of Bayelsa state, may not see the blinking electricity provided by the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) until certain standing issues are resolved.
For over four years, the community has been without power supply from the electricity company from Port Harcourt, Rivers state. Our ZENITHBLOG.com reporter, who visited the community on a fact finding mission, was inundated with complaints from both community members and students over the power challenge in the area.
Students who are the main dwellers in the community have no good story to tell over the power challenge in Otuoke. Besides the need for power to attend to their domestic needs, many of them told our reporter that they charge their phones with N50 from community members who commercialize their generating sets.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan
Precious Preye, a first year student of the Federal University, Otuoke, is one of the students who is finding it difficult coping with the situation in the community. Preye, an Ijaw from Gbaramatu Kingdom of Delta state, said: “We charge our phones with N50 till the phone is full after that if you come again is N50 and it continues like that.
“How many times you charge depends on your phone and the kind of battery you have. If your battery is not strong, you charge every one hour and you pay like that. There is no discount, it’s a fixed price.”
READ ALSO: 16 things Nigerians do not know about former President Jonathan’s village, Otuoke (Photos)
However, Preye said there are places one could charge their phones without paying, but that, according to him, depends on the individual’s relationship with the shop owner. Besides that, every other place, he insisted, the student must pay N50, a non-negotiable fee to charge their phones.
He added: “We as students are not happy with such development. I use my phone every day for my school runs, projects and assignments. As a student, N50 going out of my pocket every time I charge my phone cuts me off from many expenses.”
The consultant in charge of the federal medical centre in Otuoke, Dr. Peter Alabrah, also confessed that there is no electricity in Otuoke. He said there is no part of Otuoke that has electricity besides the university.
He told ZENITHBLOG.com that he has been in Otuoke for two and a half years but he is not sure if he has seen light for up to five days in the two and a half years he has lived in the former president’s village.
A staff of the state ministry of health, James Obe, decried the condition of the community saying the area has been without electricity since 2013. He said students are now left at the mercy of generator owners in the community.
The road leading to Federal University, Otuoke
He said: “We are tired of the power outage in our community. Due to the hopeless situation, most workers and students in the area prefer to come to work and school from Yenagoa instead of living in Otuoke.
“We are begging the government to come up with necessary measures to bring power to the federal university’s host community.”
A male hairdresser, who gave name only as Jeff Abiama, said the absence of power had dealt a devastating blow to his business.
Abiama said: ‘’Due to this power supply problem, I am usually running at a loss. Imagine a situation you spent about N7,000 per week on fuelling generator alone. You know what it amounts to in a month. This is not inclusive of other running costs such as salaries of salespersons.”
READ ALSO: 3 projects former President Goodluck Jonathan attracted to his village in 5 years
According to him, the electricity problem has been since 2014. From then, there has been no light in the village. He said sometimes, the electricity supply company will flash the light and off it goes.
He also said the bill given to the community to pay is too high for it. “In fact, the bill they give to this community is too much for the people to pay. When there is no light, they still give a very huge bill to the community. The community feels it’s been cheated over these years.
Seriake Dickson, Governor of Bayelsa state
“We don’t even consume the light but they bring bill for us to pay. That’s one of the reasons we are annoyed with the company.”
He explained that at one time, the community was given a bill of N12million which it paid and having paid that, another bill of N9million was also brought for the community to pay, adding that the company insisted that it is after paying the N9million bill that the community would be given light. But the community, according to him, could not afford the money.
He said the bill is being paid by the community as a whole. The strategy the company is now employing is that each transformer is to pay and get their own separate light from others. Hence the university has electricity because it has a separate transformer on which it pays its bills regularly.
Akpufu said there are about 12 transformers in the community. What then happens is that each transformer pays their bill separately and are given power.
But when visited for comments, the Yenagoa Business Manager of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company failed to speak when visited. He rather directed our reporter to Port Harcourt. However, a source who would not want to be named, said the problem of the community is inability to pay the bills is the underlying reason why it cannot be given light from the company.
PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet!
He said: “They have not paid. The university in Otuoke has light because they pay us and we give them light. It is business and you pay for the service. They couldn’t have paid and they are not given light.
“You have now known why there is no service in Otuoke. They have not paid that is why there is no light there. We give the university light because they pay us. You cannot pay for something and you don’t pursue it. They are not paying that is why there is no light.”
It was learnt that Otuoke residents were thrown into darkness sometime in 2013 when the gas turbine which had hitherto been a dependable source of electricity was allegedly destroyed by rainstorm.
Since that incident learnt that effort to rehabilitate the gas turbine to serve the electricity needs of the residents had failed. Otuoke community is not connected to the national grid.
The residents were said to have derived their electricity from the turbine which was first installed by the Melford Okilo administration in the early 80s until it packed up about four years ago.
Following the power outage in the community, it was learnt that some of the university students and workers live in Yenagoa from where they come to the school on daily basis.
0naze
No comments:
Post a Comment