The Nation Newspaper

Tag: abia

  • Abia police inaugurate vigilance group

    The Aba Area Command of the police has inaugurated a vigilance group in Abala autonomous Community in Obingwa council area of the state.

    The measure is to help the police better deal with crime in the area.

    While inaugurating the team, Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Eastern Ngwa Division, Superintendent of Police Saleh Musa said residents of the communities know each other and are better placed to fight crime by volunteering information about criminal activities to the police.

    He enjoined the vigilance group  to work in one accord and abstain from taking the law into their hands or using their position to intimidate innocent residents of the community and environs.

    The DPO recalled that community policing remains the best way to combat crime, stressing that the vigilance men have an enormous task in assisting the police in securing their community.

    He said, “When the community people came to my office, I insisted that vigilante men must be people of integrity. You have enormous task in helping the police fight crime. Don’t engage in jungle justice; you must hand over every suspect to the police. Again, ensure that you don’t connive with criminals. The name of Abala community has been ringing a bell. All the bad things they talked about your community should be in the past. Do not hesitate to call the police at every opportunity.”

    Speaking at the occasion, the traditional ruler of Abala community, Eze Paul Ekwenye noted that the community which shares borders with Akwa Ibom State, had been peaceful since he ascended the throne after the death of his predecessor who was murdered with his wife by hoodlums.

    The monarch appealed for the regular visit of the police to the rural communities under its jurisdiction.

    Chairman, Council of Village Heads in the community, Mr. Ndubuisi Sampson hailed the police for supporting community policing, stressing that the community would not hesitate to hand over any member who misbehaves to the police.

    The vigilance team members were given identity cards.

  • How Abia’ll achieve self-dependence, by Ikpeazu

    Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has assured residents that the paucity of cash from the Federal Government is no impediment to the state’s growth.

    The governor even said that the state will soon become economically prosperous despite dwindling federal allocations.

    He said the state has worked seriously in the last one year to develop the key enablers that would form the mainstay while the federal allocation would come as an additional support.

    Speaking to the media in Lagos on the one year scorecard of his principal, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Godwin Adindu, said to achieve the goal, Governor Ikpeazu has emphasised the areas where the state has comparative advantage such as agriculture, commerce and trade, craftsmanship and human capital development.

    Adindu said the governor has deployed prudence and judicious management skills to achieve so much in the first one year, particularly in the area of infrastructural development.

    “This has taken a greater share of the governor’s attention in the last one year and this is happening at a time when our federal allocation has come down from about N4 billion to N1.8 billion, while our wage bill is about N3 billion,” he added.

    Adindu further disclosed that the strategy of Governor Ikpeazu has been to create the enabling environment and then develop the sectors that would boost and sustain the Abia economy such that very soon Abia would no more be completely dependent on the cheque from Abuja.

    Adindu said the governor had embarked on some strategic development programmes with his eyes set in the distant future. These included the Obiaku City Port in Ukwa East, which was initiated to link Aba to the sea and provide a great boost to Aba as the commercial hub of the southeast, as well as the market development  programme aimed at revamping the markets as strong Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) base for the state.

    ”One strategy was to separate the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Now we have the Ministry of Commerce as well as Ministry of Trade and Investment, with the latter focusing on market development and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises,” the CPS explained.

    On road construction, Adindu said that the state government has actively constructed 66 roads across the three geopolitical zones of the state with 27 fully commissioned, adding that Governor Ikpeazu had to deploy the high cost-intensive  cement/rigid technology on five roads in Aba to sustain their load bearing capacity and maintain quality.

    He pointed out that some of the roads were commissioned in Aba by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. “There are plans between Abia State and its neighbour, Akwa Ibom to jointly rehabilitate the shared federal roads,” he added.

    The government has also led a campaign for the development of the artisanship ingenuity in Aba and the standardisation of Made-in-Aba products, which climaxed with a business summit in Aba and the “Made in Aba Trade Fair” in Abuja.

    Adindu said: “We take the Made-in-Aba concept seriously. The artisans were sponsored to Turkey to understudy the processes that would make them manufacture good quality products that are enduring. Shoes made in Aba can be sold in shops in the United Kingdom, the United States and other western countries where Nigerians were fond of acquiring such products.”

    The government has also devoted attention to the revitalisation of two moribund industries – Golden Guinea Breweries in Umuahia and the International Glass Industry in Aba. While the Aba company has commenced production of bottles for pharmaceutical companies, the Umuahia beer company would start operation soon, Adindu assured.

    Agriculture, he further said, has also received the attention of the Ikpeazu administration, explaining that this is one area where the state has comparative advantage right from the time of the regional government when the Dr. Micheal Okpara administration established several farm settlements in the areas now known as Abia State.

  • BoI, Abia float N1b scheme for SMEs

    BoI, Abia float N1b scheme for SMEs

    The Bank of Industry (BoI) and the Abia State government have signed  a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to inject N1 billion into the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector of the state.

    The fund will be made available to deserving entrepreneurs in the state to boost their value addition processes, expand their production  and make more jobs available.

    During the signing  at the Government House Umuahia, BoI’s Acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Waheed Olagunju explained that the fund would be contributed by the bank and the state for lending to entrepreneurs in the state, particularly those who are engaged in value addition and processing.

    “What we are trying to do now is to accentuate the industrialisation of Abia State particularly in the SME sector vertically and horizontally, to increase the level of entrepreneurship in the state with its attendant multiplier effects.

    “We need to add value to our products rather than exporting them in their crude form to countries where they are processed and sent back to us with more value and we pay heavily for that and the per capita incomes of those countries get much higher than we have here, and the quality of life and living standards are also much higher than we have here.’’

    According to Olagunju, what separates the rich and the poor countries is the level of industrialisation. He said it is not by accident that rich countries are described as industrialised nations  and the poor countries as less industrialised.

    “By our estimation in the BoI, through every N1billion we lend, we are able to generate close to 10,000 jobs. And as resources permit we can also increase the pool of funds, this is just a framework that we intend to start with,” he added.

    Olagunju noted that with the right capacity building, prospective beneficiaries stood a better chance of making best use of the assistance given to them, which will enhance their potential and also enable them to honour their repayment obligations.

    He announced that the bank was would open a branch office in Umuahia to enable it bring its services closer to entrepreneurs in the state.

    Also, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu while appreciating the Federal Government’s renewed effort to  boost the economy through other vital sectors apart from oil, stressed that “this is the time to use the opportunities that are available to us.”

    He said the government is resting on five pillars of development and first of these pillars is the development of small and medium scale enterprises, having identified from inception that Abians were very resilient, tough and ingenious entrepreneurs.

    Said he: “We also discovered a cultural hedge in the way our people do business which has prevented them from competing globally and that is the non-automation of production processes.

    “With automated production lines we can be sure of consistent quality, time of delivery and consistency in design.

    “We want to see how we can intervene by assisting them in procuring needed equipment, training and re-training and also help them in accessing markets and gaining exposure beyond Nigeria.”

    “I want to assure you that every person that will benefit from the facility will give a good account of it and will be willing to pay back. The orientation is that this is the time to move forward and the economy of the nation and our state depends on their ability to seize this moment and run with it.

    “I want to assure the Bank of Industry that our government will cooperate with you, do everything possible to see that you succeed in setting up an office here in the state.

    “I’m one of the few that believes that Nigeria will rise from this low ebb and become stronger, become better, such that we can tell the story of what happened as the nudge we needed to rise from our slumber.

    Governor Ikpeazu noted that time has also come for Nigerians to take pride in what they produce because – “anything that is good enough for Nigerians should also be good for citizens of other countries.

    “The greatest enemy of made in Nigeria products are Nigerians themselves and we need to change our orientation and discipline our appetite for foreign products. This is the time to tell the world who we are from our own perspective.”

     

  • Abia APC factions reconcile

    Abia APC factions reconcile

    •Party plans to oust PDP in 2019

    The lingering crisis that created factions in the Abia State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has ended.

    The two factions have agreed to work together for the party’s progress.

    Addressing reporters after the meeting that ended the crisis, APC State Chairman Donatus Nwamkpa said both factions realised their mistakes and agreed to end their differences.

    Nwamkpa urged the members to be fully involved in the party’s restructuring at the wards and autonomous communities to enable it face the challenges ahead of the 2019 general elections.

    The chairman noted that members were joint leaders of the party at their various levels, adding: “Since we are all leaders of this great party, we should, therefore, not allow it to collapse under our watch.

    “We have all agreed to come together for the good of our great party. Therefore, every member is expected to work hard to ensure that we remain focused to achieve results of taking over power in 2019.”

    The State Deputy Publicity Secretary, Offor Okorie, said the party’s crisis, which made it possible for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to win last year’s election, had ended.

    Okorie said: “With this development, the Abia APC is now poised to take over power, come 2019. I advise Governor Okezie Ikpeazu to sit up. Otherwise, the state will be too hot for him and his administration.”

    The deputy publicity secretary said the party was determined to play the role of a strong and viral opposition.

    He said this would put APC on a strong footing ahead of future elections.

    It was learnt that with Nwamkpa as the chairman, the party also elected other officials.

    They are: John Ogumka (Deputy Chairman), Dr Emma Aguzie Ndukwe (Secretary), Austin Anyaegbu (Deputy Secretary), Philomina Uzuegbu (Woman Leader) and Gabriel Dimgba (Treasurer).

    Others are: Prince Paul Ikonne (Abia South Chairman), Sunday Ogba (Chairman, Abia Central, Onyeoha Chukwu (Chairman, Abia North).

    Benedict Godson was elected Publicity Secretary while Chibueze Apugo is Welfare Officer.

  • Rejigging community policing in Abia

    Rejigging community policing in Abia

    Given the challenges arising from recent spate of deadly and sophisticated threats from armed robbers, kidnappers, bandits, felons and  the realization that the police alone does not have the necessary capability and capacity to meet the challenges, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, recently set in process a retraining regime for the Abia State Vigilante services that will equip them with top of range techniques, strategies, tactics, attitudes, skills to achieve high quality service delivery, incorporating key principles and core values underpinning the well-being of the community. It is not, repeat not, a local militia to combat cattle pastoralists and herdsmen.

    Recall that the security service came into existence over 16 years ago as a reaction to the disturbances of hoodlums in Aba and was later elevated to vigilante services. The neighbouring states also engaged their services in combating armed robbery when the hoodlums seemed to have overwhelmed the statutory agencies.

    As an organic security outfit established by extant  laws of Abia State, the force is defined by a structured chain of command  in various local councils and zones which for now has to undergo an upgrade in training, in the areas of security and skill for intelligence gathering, attitudinal change, public relations and professional efficiency among both the rank and file. It is incumbent on the vigilante units that they recognize and appreciate fellow Abians nay Nigerians as their fellow human beings who deserve to be treated with a high level of courtesy and decorum.

    Security adviser to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, Capt Awa Udonsi Agwu {Retd}, explained that community policing is a philosophy of full service personalized policing, where the same officer patrols and works in the same area on a permanent basis from a decentralized place, working in a proactive partnership with citizens to identify and solve problems. It creates partnership between law enforcement agency, community members, nonprofit service providers, private business and the media. The media represents a powerful pattern by which the police can communicate with the community. Community policing recognizes that police cannot solve every public safety problem alone. So interactive partnerships are created. The policing uses the public for developing problem-solving solutions.

    The contemporary community policing movement emphasizes changing the role of law enforcement from a static, reactive, incident –driven bureaucracy to a more dynamic, open, quality-oriented proactive partnership with the community. Community policing philosophy emphasizes that police officers work closely with local citizens and community agencies in designing and implementing a variety of crime-prevention strategies and problem-solving measures.

    Many common elements in community-oriented policing include relying on community-based crime prevention by utilizing civilian education, neighborhood watch, and a variety of other techniques, as opposed to relying solely on police patrols, re-structuralizing of patrol from an emergency response based system to emphasizing proactive techniques such as foot patrol, increased officer accountability to civilians they are supposed to serve.

    To this effect, all traditional rulers in the state have been directed to submit names of 10 able-bodied youths from their community to the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs. These youths, who would have been vetted as worthy persons of impeccable character will be enlisted into the vigilante service. They should  readily have individuals in the community who can vouch for them and can even stand as guarantors on their behalf.

    Since they will be most often exposed to harsh weather/environmental conditions and hard physical stress, they should also be physically tough and able to withstand severe physical pressure. They should also be mentally sound with good intelligence gathering abilities as their major role will be to tactically report to the police suspicious activities in the community that poses danger. Their training will be handled by relevant security agencies on the following: security report writing, information intelligence gathering, interrogation processes, the law and the security officer/security civil relationship, powers of arrest and limits of detention, submission to police authorities, amongst others.

    It is in the above regard that the Governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has obliged the communities in Abia to provide 10 able bodied personnel that can operate in the above mentioned capacity. As already announced, the main work of these security personnel in the various communities is to reflect all that has been discussed in relationship with community policing and intelligence-led policing.

    The state vigilante security service is insulated from domination of any particular individual, or group of people, or traditional institutions.  The Police at all point in time regulate their activities particularly with regards to their operations.

    Dr Ikpeazu, further announced the creation of a farmers/herdsmen conflict resolution committee to be headed by the state commissioner of police to obviate future ruckus between pastoralists and farmers.

    Other members of the committee include: the brigade commander, state director of Department of State Services (DSS), state commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC), the naval commander, special adviser to the governor on security, special adviser to the governor on special duties, state chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), representatives of Myetti Allah cattle dealers’ and the leader of the Hausa community in the state, Sarikin Hausawa.

    He also directed that the committee should be replicated in the 17 local governments of the state and should include the local heads of all security agencies. The news of the creation of the farmer/ herdsmen committee will be seen as a departure from the belligerent position of some South-east groups which ordered herdsmen out of the region following the attack at Nimbo, Enugu last month that left at least 20 people dead.

    In any case, for Abia to achieve success with the five pillars of the government which are underpinned  in agriculture, education, health, oil/ gas and trade and investment, the state needs adequate peace and security because lack of it can always chase away  potential investors.

    The relations between peace, security and development cannot be over stated. Peace and sustainable development is a two way relationship. And that is why Governor Ikpeazu, should be commended for this bottoms up approach. The governor has continuously been robustly engaged in delivering the dividends of his core developmental agenda. The Abia civil society must meet him half way because in the words of Capt Agwu (retd), the security of life and property is a collective responsibility of every citizen within the community. Community policing brings the police and citizens together to prevent crime and solve neighborhood problems. It gives the citizens more control over the safety of life and property in their community. Security of life and property reduces fear and enhances productivity; it promotes democracy in the community in particular and nation in general.

     

    • Chinyemike Torti is a public policy analyst and management consultant

  • 200 Abia workers on double pay

    The Abia State Commissioner for Finance, Obinna Oriaku, has aid the state government uncovered about 200 workers earning salaries from different ministries in the last one year.

    Addressing reporters in Umuahia, the state capital, on the state’s financial situation and the score card of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, the commissioner said the government had uncovered some workers in the Civil Service Commission who inflated their salaries from N100,000 to N300,000.

    Oriaku said the government had also discovered that the management of the state’s University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) in Aba had a template, which made the workers to be paid in excess of N12 million monthly in the past five years.

    The commissioner said the discoveries were made through biometric capture, staff auditing as well as other screening and audit of ministries and corporations.

    He said the measures were among the government’s strategy to block financial leakages.

    Oriaku recalled that since the Ikpeazu administration assumed office, it had introduced measures that made governance transparent and efficient. The commissioner said such measures included reduced padding of salaries and ghost workers.

    He noted that despite the dwindling allocation accruing to the state from the Federation Account, Ikpeazu had recorded remarkable achievements in the key sectors of the economy.

    According to him, Ikpeazu’s prudent resource management has kept the state afloat, despite dwindling Federal allocations.

  • Insecurity: Reps committee visits Abia today

    Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Police and Army will today visit Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State, on a fact-finding visit on the security situation in the city.

    The member representing Aba North and South Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Ossy Prestige, spoke yesterday on the visit during a church service at the Assemblies of God Church in Aba.

    Prestige, who is also a member of the committee, said that the high-powered delegation, led by its chairman, would hold a town hall meeting tomorrow at the Aba Sport Club at 10 a.m.

  • Abia PDP congress and internal democracy

    Abia PDP is at crossroads. It is gasping for breath. Yes, it suffers from self-administered poisoned chalice. The hegemonic clique that calls the shot is bent on holding to its siege mentality. In fact, what played out in the last state congress was a rehearsal of democratic despotism that held the state by jugular and emasculated the robustness of party politics. The initial betrayal of the unchanging spots of the leopard was the illegal inauguration of a State Congress Committee, peopled by virtually the same persons that turned the last PDP primaries in Abia to Bureau De Change. The grim harvest of the committee’s merchandising with the then aspirants was an unprecedented level of internal sabotage, double-dealing, back-stabbing and a large army of fifth columnists during the 2015 general elections in the state.

    On the face value, empanelling a committee for the congress, could be viewed as administrative pro-activeness, but underlying the  illegal committee’s mandate was a tall order to limit the political space and cut to size those with towering profile termed “non- conformists”. That brings to the fore the illegality of the State Congress Committee. It is only the national leadership of PDP that is empowered by the constitution of the party to appoint members of Congress Committee. As a corollary, the Abia PDP Congress was without the usual fanfare; no tenor; no fragrance. Abia’s first-eleven in PDP, the likes of Chief Ojo Maduekwe, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, Senator Ike Nwachukwu, Dr. Uche Ogah, Senator Adolphus Wabara, and Professor Ihechukwu Madubuike were conspicuous by their absence. Do not lose sight of the fact that the party had lost to the ruling APC, the likes of Senator Nkechi Nwogu, Chief Emeka Nwogu, Senator Chris  Adighije, Chief Anthony Ukasoanya; no thanks to the unresolved issues of 2014 gubernatorial primaries and ‘animal farm’ treatment meted to them by Abia ‘trinity cabal’.

    On the D-day of the state congress, the charade took an unchecked flight. First, the moderator of the event goofed by naively missing the Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly from the list of protocol. The costly tomfoolery nearly turned the event into disarray. Take note that there is a ‘manhunt’ for the Speaker’s seat by the same ‘cabal’. Second, a dangerous misnomer and a monumental breach of protocol were glossed over. The former governor and his hordes of praise singers and bootlickers took the shine off the incumbent governor who was already seated before them. Unknown to many, the late entrance of the former governor was premeditated. The  contrived ‘ovation’ that greeted the former helmsman’s appearance at the venue of the congress was intended to send a message that the old horse is still in charge and invariably, dissuade any attempt towards eye ball-to-eyeball assertiveness by the incumbent. The incumbent governor, in his characteristic calmness, maintained his cool but his mood was not ecstatic throughout the event. That was why the governor deserted the rubber-stamp casting of votes midway and that brought the event to a laughable end.  The congress was a joke taken too far. While the illegal State Congress Committee was busy doctoring the lists of new party officials that emerged from the wards, in the guise of harmonization, the big show of shame reached a crescendo at the state congress event.

    After the excruciating experience of screening of the ad-hoc delegates under a scorching sun, the delegates, at the arrival in the hall were ambushed with the announcement of the names of would-be state officers of the party without undergoing any election, which they came for. The pin-drop silence that greeted the daylight robbery was as confusing as it was nauseating. Questions reared up in people’s faces. Agitated minds were rife. Murmurings ensued but like a typical slave camp, nobody dared to interrogate the mockery with democracy apparel. The hot bags of sachet water served the delegates in the name of entertainment heightened the tension. And our great ‘democrats’ boasted and celebrated the muzzled voices as acquiescence. They pontificated that it was the most peaceful in the history of democracy. Peaceful, my foot!  Peace of the graveyard! It is comparable to the ‘peace’ between the biblical Jonah and the fish. While Jonah was languishing in solitary hopelessness in the womb of the fish, the fish was enjoying its aquatic environment with Jonah intact.

    Abia North Zone is even the worst casualty of the whole mess.  The deputy chairmanship slot allotted to the senatorial zone was awarded to a person with legendary political liability in his Ward, Local Government and the state. A ranking member of House of Representatives from the zone stoutly opposed his selection at a meeting held at the Deputy Governor’s Lodge before the sham election called state congress but the cabal’s penchant for snubbing cerebral personalities in the state made the unpopular person to assume the position. The illegal State Congress Committee constituted by the ‘cabal’ to carry out a hatchet job in Umunneochi Local Government in the same Abia North also  worked at cross-purposes with the committee set up by the PDP national leadership. While the federal committee conducted the Local Government Congress in the presence of INEC, Police and DSS as monitors, the illegal committee brandished another list of Local Government and Ward officials of PDP, cooked up by contractors and business men with no democratic trajectory. Confusion almost set in but the maturity displayed by the torchbearers of the party in the area saved people’s revolt against those on the path of a psychopath. Indeed, Abia PDP is walking on clutches having been amputated by contradictions of greed, propaganda and pocket autocracy. The days of reckoning are imminent.

     

    • Nwaubani Ejike wrote in from Umuahia.

  • Abia Assembly wants in-bound trucks searched

    The  Abia State House of Assembly has passed a resolution asking security agencies in the state to henceforth search all trucks and vehicles entering the state, especially those  carrying cows, tomatoes and onions from the North.

    The resolution was in response to the menace of herdsmen in parts of the country.

    The motion that led to the resolution was moved under a matter of urgent public importance by the Minority Leader and member representing Bende South State

    Constituency, Mr Chibuzor Okogbuo.

    Okogbuo expressed fear that if nothing was done urgently, the recent incident at Ukpabi Nimbo in Uzo Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, where more than 40 villagers were massacred by Fulani herdsmen, could

    spread to other parts of the zone.

    The lawmakers enjoined communities in the state to be vigilant and proactive to resist and report the activities of herdsmen at the nearest police station before they wreak havoc.

    The House also urged security agencies in the state to mount surveillance and set up patrol team to keep an eye on herdsmen and watch out for weapons.

    The lawmakers said that those in possession of such illegal arms should be prosecuted by security agencies, stressing that doing that will help to curb the excesses of the herdsmen and others like them.

  • Abia hoteliers protest high electricity tariffs

    Abia hoteliers protest high electricity tariffs

    Members of the hospitality industry in Abia State protest over erratic supply and outrageous electricity billing by the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), reports Sunny Nwankwo

    HOTEL owners in Abia State have had enough of poor power supply and outrageous bills.

    That was why they took to the street to drive home their disatisfaction.

    They were protesting under the aegis of Hotel Proprietors Association.

    Their anger rested on what they described as “outrageous monthly electricity billing” of their hotels by the DISCO in-charge of electricity distribution and supply in the Southeast, Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC).

    The group, at the end of an emergency meeting in Aba, the commercial nerve of the state, lamented that the high tariff is posing a threat to the sustenance of the hospitality industry in the state and further warned that they would not hesitate to drag the management of EEDC to court if they (EEDC) fails to address the situation in the nearest weeks.

    Chief Goody Egbuchulam, chairman of the association in Aba told reporters that the recent increase in electricity tariffs by EEDC in Abia and the rest of the Southeast from N29.5 to N42.22 per unit was too outrageous for his members to pay if they are to remain in business.

    According to Egbuchulam, an average hotel in Aba gets a monthly electricity bill of N1m.

    He regretted that at the end, the hotels would not get adequate power supply.

    He lamented that due to inconsistency of power supply in Aba, the commercial nerve of the state, an average hotel in the city even after paying huge electricity bill; still spend an average N3.5m monthly on diesel to keep their businesses running.

    Recalling how they have made several attempts to get pre-paid meters failed on deaf ears of  EEDC officials, accused them of taking advantage of the situation to give them arbitrary bills, stating that it was wrong for the Electricity Company to continue to charge them for power they did not consume.

    “The hotel industry in Abia needs Federal Government protection from the hands of EEDC and its shylock tariffs. EEDC raised its tariff in 2014 to N29.5 per unit and in 2016 they are raising it this time to N42.22 per unit, yet within this period, there is no single improvement in power supply.”

    A patron of the association in Aba, HRM (Eze) Nzenwata Mbakwe  and Prince Charles Ezeala, chairman of the association in Umuahia, the state capital attributing the high tariff to the privatization of the power sub sector by the previous administration, described the process as counterproductive, stressing that it should be revisited.