The Nation Newspaper

Tag: blackout

  • Blackout: Protesting youths vandalise EEDC vehicles

    Youths in Afikpo, Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, are protesting blackout in the town.

    They said the town had been in darkness in the last seven months.

    Three vehicles belonging to the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) was vandalised by youths, who barricaded entry and exit points.

    Banks and markets were shut following the protest, which paralysed movement.

    A resident, Egwu Idam, said youths besieged the  distribution company as early as 7am, sacked the workers and vandalised three company’s vehicles.

    “For over seven months, we’ve not had light and we have been paying bills. We told the EEDC workers to stop bringing bills since they don’t give us light but they won’t listen.

    “Today, we decided to stop these. We want the right thing to be done. Its either they give us power or they stop bringing bills because we cannot continue to pay for what we don’t consume,” Idam said.

    Police spokesman Chris Anyanwu, who confirmed the incident, condemned the youth’s action.

    He said the area commander and his team had been directed to calm the situation.

  • Reps to probe BEDC over Ondo community’s blackout, bills

    The House of Representatives has asked   the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) to explain the disconnection of three Federal constituencies – Ilaje/Esa Odo, Okitipupa/Irele and Odigbo/Ileoluji/Okeibo in Ondo State – for 15 months without explanations.

    The lawmakers were also surprised at BEDC’s continued demand for bills.

    Kolade Akinjo (PDP, Ondo) and four others, in a motion yesterday, noted that despite being disconnected by BEDC for 15 months, the monthly bills had been consistently presented to the consumers.

    The House mandated its Committee on Power, when constituted, to interface with BEDC and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) over the prolonged disconnection and the bills.

    The committee was given four weeks to report back for further legislative action.

    Akinjo regretted that despite the huge investments by the Federal Government to boost power supply, majority of households in the country still grappled with blackout almost daily.

    He said: “It is worrisome that the continued blackout in the affected areas for that length of time has brought untold hardship to the inhabitants; it has paralysed business activities.

    “This has left the people with no other choice but to resort to buying fuel to power their generators.

    “The prevailing situation has adversely affected the social well-being of the people, created security challenges, which have led to an increase in crime rate.

    “It is, however, regrettable and absurd that despite the blackout, the people are still being asked to pay regular monthly bills for electricity that was not supplied.”

    The lawmakers unanimously supported the motion when it was put to voice vote by Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

  • Blackout continues in Abuja as Apo transmission breaks down

    • AEDC gets 100Mw load allocation

    Apo Transmission Station in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja broke down yesterday  at 12.00pm, it was learnt.

    A source told The Nation  that the situation reduced power allocation to the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC)  to 20 megawatts (Mw) .

    The relief which the firm got when it received  92Mw was short-lived following the breakdown of Apo Transmission Station which reduced the allocation 20Mw.

    The source said: “We were happy that the power allocation to us at AEDC was improving as it rose to 92Mw. But at 12.00noon, the Apo Transmission Station developed a fault that reduced the load to 20Mw.”

    Another source said as at 4.19 pm, the load was increased to 100Mw, stressing that “under  normal circumstances the company should get over 400Mw.”

    According to him, there is an improvement in the power supply to the AEDC.

    On the faulty Apo Transmission Station, the source said: “I am not sure that the Apo transmission station is up and running yet. But they said we can take our load through Katampe.”

    Following the Sunday system collapse at the Shiroro Power Plant, power allocation to the firm dropped to 15Mw.

    At the time of filing this report, the entire FCT was in darkness but the source was hopeful that the Apo Station would be fixed soon.

    Residents are groaning as they are exhausting their resources on running private generators at home and office as a result of the energy crisis which has engulfed the country.

    The Minister of Power Prof. Chinedu Nebo  said the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) now has 7,000Mw generation capacity but for paucity of gas, 70 per cent of the capacity is redundant.

    He said: “Nebo observed that the negative effect of the strike on power supply was inevitable, since up to 70 per cent of generation is coming from gas-fired stations, pending the harvest of electricity from the enormous work already done by government and private asector investors, on new large hydros and other renewables.”

    The Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi explained that the poor power situation in the country was as because  18 out of the 23 power plants in the country are unable to produce electricity due to shortage of gas supply for the thermal plants.

    1. Amadi said: “At present, 18 out of the 23 power plants in the country are unable to generate electricity due shortage of gas supply to the thermal plants with one of the hydro stations faced with water management issue. This has led to loss of over 2,000Mw in the national grid.”

    According to him, in the last couple of months, electricity supply has been generally poor on account of increase in vandalism in the run up to the April 2015 elections.

    But this bad supply condition, he said,  has worsened in the last few days.

    The chairman noted that this  situation is further compounded by the recent industrial actions embarked upon by workers in the oil and gas industry, a development which is taking toll on other sectors of the economy.

  • How we battle fuel scarcity, blackout by schools, mothers

    How we battle fuel scarcity, blackout by schools, mothers

    How have homes and schools been coping with fuel scarcity and blackout?

    It has been terrible, many said yesterday as they relived their experiences.

    Taking the children to schools and  back has not been easy, some mothers told The Nation.

    A teacher, Hajia Sherifah Yusuf-Ajibade, said she could not go and pick her children from their school in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, for midterm holiday yesterday because she had no fuel in her car.

    She hopes to get fuel today for the trip.

    “We can’t pick my children from school for midterm break. The vehicle expected to go to Vanguards Academy in Ijebu-Ode could not get fuel. The driver had been on the queue since 8am. Now, as at now (3pm), the queue has not been dismantled, no thanks to the unscrupulous motorists who couldn’t demonstrate civility for once. He was quite close to the entrance when the queue got disorganised. I have been looking forward to having the children today (yesterday) but nay, I hope and pray we will have a different story tomorrow Insha Allah,” she posted on Change Monitor, a WhatsApp group chat.

    Hajia Yusuf-Ajibade, who teaches at As-Siddiq Schools in Ketu, Lagos, said the pupils shouted Allahu Akbar (God is the Greatest) when light came up after the school got fuel for its generator.

    “For some time now, we have not had electricity from the distribution company. Thank God female factor got us 50 litres of fuel at N87 today (yesterday) at Conoil filling Station opposite Centre for Management Development (CMD), Shangisha. Two of my colleagues went there with two 25-litre gallons and explained to the officers coordinating the crowd that the school needs fuel, after lamenting the ordeal the kids in the Creche and classes are facing because the generator has no fuel, they sold for them and under one hour they were back in the school. The neighbours who informed us of the availability of fuel in the station were left on the queue. When they returned and put on the generating set, the children in the classes shouted Allahu Akbar (God is the Greatest) and within a few minutes, the ones at the Creche slept off. The school management and staff felt relieved,” she said.

    Mrs Lydia Omotosho, who lives on College Road, Ogba, Lagos, said her children have been going to school late because of fuel scarcity and blackout.

    According to her, she has not been able to pump water at home because of the blackout.

    She said she had been going to the frozen foods shop on her street with others on the neighbourhood to fetch water.

    Mrs Kikelomo Amusa, who also lives in Ogba, said: “Thank God my children’s school, Solid Gate Montessori School, College Road, is not too far from the house, so since there is no longer fuel and light, we trek together to school. It is very stressful because I have three children; two are going to the school, while the last one is still a baby. I have to wake up earlier than usual and look for water to bathe them.

    “We all trek to their school and I back the baby because I cannot leave my baby at home alone; my husband would have gone to work.”

    Mr Samuel Ojo, the Administrator of Claridge Schools, Ifako Ijaye, Lagos said fuel scarcity did not hit the school too hard because it got petrol from the black market at a higher price.

    The school, he said, shifted mid-term break, initially scheduled for next week to this week.

    Mrs Wunmi Rajh-Label said her three children could not go to school, because they could not  have their bathe, adding that her family’s two cars are at home with no fuel to run them.

    Mrs Uju Ifeakor, Headteacher of Hallmark Nursery and Primary School at Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos, said her school’s close ties with a filling station enabled them to get petrol at the normal price. The school buses, she said, operated without hitch, adding that academic activities went on smoothly. But, the school recorded scanty turn out of parents at its open day yesterday.

    A parent at the open day, Mrs Uche Okoye, said she had confined her car to taking her children to school to manage fuel.

    She lamented the high cost of petrol at the black market which she patronises to preserve her foodstuff.

    Headmistress of Right Choice Divine Schools, Ogba Mrs Nike Peters said the school recorded low turnout of pupils this week, because it could not fuel its bus.

    “We had to call parents on Sunday to apologise to them that our school bus would not be available to pick them in the morning, so they should bring their children to school themselves. Those that stay close to school were able to make it but most pupils were not able to come to school. The school is very scanty and uncomfortable because we were not able to power the generator to put on fan and air conditioner for them. And we had to buy at the black market to fuel our generating set to pump water,” Mrs Peters said.

    At Al-Wasi Schools in Mushin, the story was not different. “Our school bus did not work due to unavailability of fuel,” said Hajia Zaynab Ahmad-Taiwo, the Headteacher.

    Academic activities, she said, were partially affected because teachers came late.

     

  • Blackout looms in Kano

    Blackout looms in Kano

    Kano residents may soon be plunged into blackout as power supply to the state from the national grid has shrunk to 30 megawatts.

    The development, our correspondent gathered, could bring economic activities in the state to near collapse.

    Already, there are feelers from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to the effect that the nation might soon be thrown into total darkness as a result of system failure, if additional attention is not paid to power generation.

    Speaking to reporters in Kano yesterday, the Managing Director, Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), Alhaji Jamil Gawuna, said the worsening state of electricity supply to the state in recent times now threatens the operations of the company.

    He lamented that since the beginning of the month (May) the states under the operational zone of his company have been receiving 30 megawatts of electricity against the required 500 megawatts.

    According to him, the 30 megawatts being allocated to the state includes a standby order given to the company to allocate 30 per cent of total allocations to the area to neighbouring Niger Republic.

    This implies that when the allocation to Niger Republic is deducted, the consumers in states under it are left with almost zero allocation, he said

    Gawuna said: “On behalf of the management of the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), I wish to draw the attention of the Federal Government and electricity consumers in Kano, Katsina and Jigawa to the issue threatening electricity supply in the zone.

    “This is the worrisome state of electricity supply which the zone has been experiencing since the beginning of this month. For the past one month, supply to the area has reduced to about 30 per cent.

    “This dismal allocation includes the 30 per cent standby order which we have for the neighbouring Niger Republic.

    “Also, we have experienced 12 shut down in the past one month in the zone, and this is compounding other difficulties that we are experiencing.

    “Because of the grave situation at hand, I am forced to contact one of the directors of the Transmission Company of Nigeria to complain to about our situation, and he told me that the declining supply was because of shrinking generation which, according to him, has gone down to about 1005MW.”

    Commenting on the negative impact of the situation at hand on the revenue profile of his company, Gawuna said inadequate supply of electricity had caused his management to run at a loss since it took over the ownership of the electricity asset.

    He said: “Since we took over the ownership of the company, we have been paying an average of N1.2 billion every month for electricity supply, and a monthly wage bill of about N400 million, as well as additional N100 million for network maintenance.

    “The total cost of operation is about N1.8 billion. On the average, what we are generating is about N1.2 billion. You can see the loss that the company is incurring every month, and for us to remain in operation, we have to go borrowing from banks or increase our equity.

    “This was one o the reasons, why the DISCOs in the country are asking for tariff hike to address the deficit incurred as a result of these expenses, and to assist us make returns on investment.”

  • Residents protest 16-month blackout

    Residents of Ipetu-Ijesa in Oriade Local Government Area of Osun State marched on the streets at the weekend to protest a 16-month blackout in Grammar School area.

    The protesters said the electricity  transformer developed a fault last year August  and has not been repaired.

    They carried placards with various inscriptions, claiming they complained to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) before the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) took over.

    They lamented that the situation remained the same until August when the Licenced Electrical Contractors Association of Nigeria, Istepped into the matter, following the intervention of a resident, who they claimed donated money for the repair of the transformer.

    The protesters alleged that 12 days after IBEDC released cables for the repair;  the cables were stolen.

    They said: “Since the  privatisation of the power sector, we expect the investor to provide the amenities and demand their bill from consumers.

    “Based on our findings, the management at Ilesa Business Unit is demanding that residents pay part of their bill but our people are angry over IBEDC’s non-chalant attitude to their complaint.

    “We are calling on the IBEDC as a service provider, to provide a transformer and the necessary cables  first.

    “It can then demand its debt, which was put at N1.2 million.”

  • OAU students threaten to protest blackout

    OAU students threaten to protest blackout

    Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State have threatened to cripple academic activities on the campus, following a total blackout in hostels. They said they could not prepare well for their tests because of the power outage.

    In a statement released by the Students’ Union Government (SUG), the students said all pleas made to the management to improve power supply to the hostels fell on deaf ears. The students said the situation became worse last week, leading to boycott of lectures for days.

    CAMPUSLIFE learnt that the union’s Welfare Officer wrote to the management on the power situation in the hostels but nothing was done. Students also held demonstration in all faculties to draw attention to their plight.

    When the management did not respond, the students said the last option available to them was to halt activities on the campus until electricity is restored.

    The school Public Relations Officer, Mr. Abiodun Olanrewaju, urged the students to remain calm, assuring that the management was responding to the situation. He said the management had spent huge amount on the purchase of diesel for generating plants to serve the students.

    Olanrenwaju added that power outage was not peculiar to OAU campus alone, saying it is a national challenge.

    His words: “The problem is not from us here. Those who live in Ile-Ife and its environs also encounter the same problem. The management is trying everything possible it could to ensure power is restored in the hostels using generator. Students need to know that power problem is not limited only to OAU, it is a challenge the whole country is facing.”

  • Blackout sparks students’ anger

    Blackout sparks students’ anger

    A drama played out last week at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, when occupants of the Awolowo Hall splashed water on Students’ Union leaders in the hostel because of power outage and water shortage. AFEES LASISI (200-Level Political Science) reports.

    There was a drama at the Awolowo Hall of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, last weekend. Occupants of the hostel embarrassed members of the Students’ Union Government (SUG).

    The students vented their anger on their leaders for not being alive to their responsibility. Some of the union leaders living in the hostel were called out from their rooms and splashed with water. Although none of the students’ leaders were beaten with any hard materials, students said the action was necessary to remind the leaders of their failure to attend to students’ well-being.

    The first victim was Isaac Ibikunle, the SUG president, who was drenched from head to the toe. As he was being splashed, some of his colleagues, who learnt about the incident, wanted to escape from the hostel but they were prevented by students, who politely asked them to come forward for ‘baptism’.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that there was power outage in the school for five days, resulting in water shortage. While the outage lasted, students turned to mosques and churches to charge their mobile phones and laptops.

    “Before the union was restored, we always gathered ourselves to fight for our welfare. But the presence of SUG seems not to make any difference. We no longer have a vibrant union anymore; Isaac Ibikunle and his colleagues have become puppets of the management,” a student said.

    Another student said: “Since we resumed, after the increment in school fees, the quality of services we are getting from the union shows these people are not for us.”

    But Isaac pleaded for patience and support from the students, noting that years of proscription may have affected the SUG’s vibrancy.

    He said: “I understand all your grievances and criticisms, which made you to splash water on me. But, you must remember that the union members are under probation, which means we must be careful of our activities so that it won’t lead to another suspension by the management.”

    On the allegations that he beat up a student, Isaac said the victim could not explain what he was doing on the spot he was caught at 12am.

    Some students, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE after the incident, condemned the union’s inaction, describing it as unprecedented.

    One of them, who simply identified himself as Tunde, said: “Students spending days without electricity on the campus had never happened. This tells us that, it is the Students’ Union that is making the situation worse because with a functional union, nobody would have dared to play with students’ welfare.”

    Another student, Segun Ayoola, said: “Why must we go through agony because we are students of a Nigerian university? How do they want us to excel in our academic pursuit when there is no power supply and water in the hostel?”

    Before the electricity was restored, students led a procession to the Students’ Union Building to register their displeasure over the outage. Officials of the union hurriedly left their office for fear of being attacked by the angry students.

  • Blackout in Kebbi

    Blackout in Kebbi

    Some parts of Birnin-Kebbi, the Kebbi State capital, have been in darkness for a week, owing to a fault at the Duku Injection Substation.

    Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Business Manager Mukhtar Ibrahim apologised to residents for the inconvenience.

    He debunked a rumour that PHCN did not want to rectify the fault because the company had been privatised.

  • Egbin host community protests blackout

    The people of Ijede Local Community Development Area (LCDA) in Ikorodu on the outskirts of Lagos have protested not having light despite being the host of Egbin power station.

    The community has over the years suffered poor electricity supply.

    The protest, which started peacefully from the Oba of Ijede’s palace to the power station gate, almost turned violent when two military men guarding the plant, started shooting into the air to disperse the protesters. But the presence of the Ijede Divisional Police Officer saved the day.

    The Ijede Community Development Committee (CDC) Chairman, Rotimi Ayoku-Owolawi, said the the protest was to draw attention to their plight.  He said:    “In the last few years, due to population explosion, our electricity needs increased in geometric progression without concomitant power infrastructural improvement.”

    Upon investigation, he said, it was discovered that the Federal Government awarded a contract for the construction of a 15KVA injection substation at Oke-Elutu, Ijede and also a 100 MVA transmission transformer at Egbin.

    Ayoku-Owolawi said it was expected that on completion, the Ijede LCDA, and parts of other four local governments in Ikorodu would enjoy uninterrupted power supply. He lamented that years later, the reverse is the case.

    “As responsible leaders, we made several efforts in writings and other fora to express our grievances, taking due cognisance of the consumer protection laws as enacted, to put our position across, but alas, we were not given audience,” adding that the  community resolved to express its grievance through the medium.

    He said although Egbin power station is a generating station, they have made various demands to the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company {IKEDC} to help commission the 15KVA injection substation and 100MVA transformer, which though completed, is yet to be connected to  the network.

    He noted that they were using the protest to implore the IKEDC/NIPP to intervene and set all machinery in motion to energise and inaugurate the substation in four weeks.

    The Chief Executive Officer, Egbin Power Station,  Mike Uzoigwe, who took the (CDC) chairman and members and as well as reporters on inspection of the 15KVA injection substation and the 100MVA transformer, assuring that work was in progress and that  the projects would be inaugurated soon.

    He said the blame for the delay of the project should go to past governments for not providing proper infrastructure. He promised the Ijede people that he would ensure that soon, they  would enjoy constant power supply and that all the projects would be completed.