By Precious Abai, Love Effah, Sam Stella, Ifiokobong Ekanem, Promise Okon, Mmenim Ndakwe, Blessing Ebitu
UYO
Residents of Ikot Iko community in Uyo Capital City have appealed to the Akwa Ibom State Government to help restore electricity to their community.
The people, who made the appeal during a visit by our reporter to the community recently, said the appeal became necessary because the community has stayed without electricity for close to a year now.
The village head of Ikot Iko, Chief Abasiama Moses, said the community has suffered in the hands of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) for close to a year now, adding that the current darkness which the community has been thrown into is attributed to a faulty transformer, which he said was vandalised by hoodlums.
“We in Ikot Iko have suffered in darkness for close to a year now, without any assistance from the PHED. The transformer that is feeding our community was vandalized by hoodlums, and we have reported the incident to PHED, who promised to help us fix the transformer, but up till today, nothing has been done to restore electricity to our community.
“We have even gone to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), where assurance was given that the faulty transformer would be fixed, but as we speak, the situation is still as it was,” Chief Moses stated.
Also speaking, a resident of the area, Mrs. Jemima Atteh, lamented that the lack of electricity in the area was causing untold hardship for small and medium business owners in the area. The businesswoman, who said the situation has forced many shop owners to close their shops or relocate to other areas, appealed to the PHED to come to their rescue by restoring electricity to the community.
“This ugly development has made most business owners to close their businesses, while others have been forced to relocate to other areas in search of greener pastures,” she stated.
Mr. Asuquo Riggs, a transporter who resides in the community, noted that the black-out in the community was getting to a year now, a development he said has made the residents to spend so much on buying fuel to power their generators.
“I buy fuel of N10,000 weekly to pump water for my family, and this situation is not helping me at all, considering the present economy in the country,” Riggs stated.
He appealed to the PHED and the Akwa Ibom State Government to do something urgently to ensure normal power supply is restored to Ikot Iko community.
Other residents of the community, who also barred their minds on the ugly development, disclosed that every affected compound in the community some time last year contributed N5,000 each to help fix the faulty transformer and restore light to the community, adding that even after the money was paid, the blackout in the community has persisted.
They appealed to the PHED and the state government to help restore electricity to Ikot Iko community.
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