There was total blackout in Rivers state on Friday after some angry youth shut down the Afam power station belonging to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
Chioma Aninwe, acting spokesperson, Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) confirmed the incident in a statement on Saturday.
Aninwe said the youth forcefully took control of the facility after failure to meet their demand for 24-hour electricity supply to Oyigbo local government area of the state.
“The youths, known as Oyigbo Youths, shut down Afam transmission lines around 21:04 pm on Friday, thereby throwing the entire Port Harcourt, Rivers state, into darkness,” Aninwe said.
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“The youths took laws into their hands and marched in their numbers to the transmission station, forcing the operators to shut down supply without observing safety measures.
“This ugly incident has become the order of the day due to their acclaimed inadequate power supply to their communities.”
Aninwe explained that the electricity shortage being experienced in the area was due to load shedding introduced to accommodate every customer.
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She also noted that PHED had held several meetings with the leadership of communities in Oyigbo LGA to enlighten them on the load allocation formula from the national grid.
“PHED also informed them on the need for the company to apply systematic load shedding in order to accommodate all its customers,” she said.
“However, all our attempts have proved futile as the youths insisted on 24-hour supply, negating our efforts at ensuring equitable distribution of supply to customers.”
According to her, many residents in Oyigbo communities perceive power supply as a social service rather than a business, adding that their perception has resulted in PHED being owed billions of naira due to non-payment of electricity bills.
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She called on law enforcement agencies to bring the culprits to book and prevent a repeat of the incident.
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