Community protests against six years blackout, bulk billing

The Ukpor Community, the headquarters of the Nnewi South Local Government Area of Anambra, embarked on a protest on Friday over a more than six-year power outage in the town.

The protesters, who trooped out to the office of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) in the area in their numbers, chanted solidarity songs and displayed placards with varying inscriptions.

Some of the inscriptions read: “EEDC give us prepared metres,"  ”Small-scale businesses in Ukpor have all closed,"  “EEDC help our students, give them light to read at night,"  and “No to EEDC darkness in Ukpor,"  among others.

The people charged EEDC to return their transformers, which they allegedly took away for refurbishment.

The Chairman of the Ukpor Electricity Consumers Committee, Mr. Nkwadochukwu Onwughalu, accused EEDC of deliberately blacklisting the community for over six years.

He said that EEDC disconnected the community from the industrial line, took away five transformers from the community, and later returned two.

Onwughalu also accused EEDC of bulk billing electricity consumers in Ukpor and vandalism of their transformers.

“The administration of Willie Obiano intervened in the power crisis in Ukraine and put us in the industrial line, but immediately after he left office, EEDC disconnected us.

“We have five transformers that got bad; EEDC claimed they were taking them away to refurbish.

“They only returned two and took the remaining three and installed them in another community, leaving us in darkness.

Another protester, Mr. Valentine Ifechigha, said that it was unacceptable that the community would be paying for services they did not enjoy.

Ifechigha, who is the leader of Ukpor Zone 3, said that all they were asking for was the return of the transformers taken away from the community.

“Return the community to the 33 kVA line, which was installed in 2017, and issue prepaid metres to individual consumers, among other things.

He said that they would no longer pay electricity bills since they were not getting supplies.

Mr. Pius Onyeanusi, who was into sachet water production in the area, said he had shut down his factory as a result of the prolonged power outage.

Onyeanusi said, “I had 25 workers, but they have stopped work because we are no longer producing.”

The EEDC Business District Manager, Evaristus Obeta, who received the protesters, said he would escalate their grievances to the company’s management.

When contacted by newsmen for further comments on the issues raised by the protesters, especially the alleged removal of their transformers, he declined.