The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Prof. Joseph Ajienka, has called on the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to restore power supply to the institution.
The school has been in darkness since January.
Ajienka said the institution was up-to-date in the payment of its electricity bills to the company.
“The PHCN has thrown the university into darkness; this is grinding academic and administrative activities.
“ It portends grave security implications that cannot be quantified.
“Staff and students are no longer able to function in their offices or conduct any meaningful academic work in the laboratories and classrooms.
“Efforts to get PHCN to install pre-paid meters in residential and administrative areas have so far been inexplicably frustrated by the company.
“There is no correlation between the huge bills paid by the university and electricity supply by the PHCN.
“The university is now compelled to source for electricity exclusively from its own power generating sets.
“This means a large chunk of the resources meant for other services and critical infrastructural development is used to buy diesel.
“The situation has become totally unbearable, to the extent that it is now affecting our capacity to carry out our core mandate of teaching, research and community service.”
Ajienka pleaded with PHCN to return UNIPORT to the old airport line, from where it was transferred to the Ahoada grid.
The VC added that he has contacted stakeholders to sensitise them on the grave electricity situation on the campus.
He urged the PHCN to take urgent steps to improve the power supply, to enable UNIPORT return to normal activities.