Emeka Ibemere
A
political Pressure group, Save Abia Now (SAN)
has called on the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), to ignore the
artificial agitations prompted by some people against the Enterprise and
proceed to hand over the Aba and Ariaria Power Distribution unit to the
rightful and competent firm that duly acquired it- Geometric Power.
The
group said instead of allowing the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company
(EEDC), who is currently in charge of the facilities to continue handling the
project, the business should be taken away from them in order to quickly
resolve the power challenges and epileptic supply that is facing the commercial
nerve centre of the state and South-East region.
In a petition signed by the Director for
Media and Publicity Comrade Kelechi Nkworie and sent to the Bureau of Public
Enterprises (BPE), National Electricity Regulatory commission (NERC) and Vice
President of the Federal republic of Nigeria, who supervises the privatization
programme as Chairman of National Council on Privatization, the Group described
those opposed to the Aba power Distribution, who are handling the distribution
of power within Aba and its environs, and those supporting the continued
industrial incapacitation of the city by EEDC, as saboteurs and enemies of the Enyimba
City; as their services has affected many businesses adding that some companies
have relocated out of the city because of poor electricity supply.
The
group decried the poor services by EEDC that has forced consumers in Aba and
its environs to pay crazy bills without power supply. According to them, the
areas that EEDC claimed to have had assets, have been experiencing epileptic
power supply and that consumers are made to pay without power supply for
months, adding that since acquisition of the bid by EEDC to distribute power in
Aba, the situation has gone worse and wondered why the company want to cling up
to a task which it lacks competence and capacity to handle.
The Group also asserted personal interests and
greed as driving force for those opposed to the original plan of Aba Power
taking over the distribution unit of Ariaria, Aba and its environs. The group
noted that apart from the fact that Geometrics conceived and built the Aba
Power Plant upon which BPE conceded the distribution unit to it, the man behind
Geometrics is a professional in that sector and have contributed to the
improvement of Power Generation and Distribution when he was the Minister of Power.
Nkworie stated that their group is worried that with two mega- power plant in
Aba and its environs, yet there was no power supply.
“Geometrics
had not powered Aba before now after building its facility due to the political
hand twisting and conflict of interest among the political elites who excluded
the South East from the nation’s gas master- plan and in the process crippled
economic and social activities in the nation’s most popular commercial nerve
center,” Nkworie said.
“Now that the error had been corrected and the
gas pipeline moved into South East, the power plant would soon roar into life
to provide uninterrupted power supply to Aba and its environs, which the residents
have full confidence that Geometric and Aba power have the capacity and competence
to deliver.”
According
to SAN, the assets were recently sold to Geometric Power Limited and Aba Power
Limited, which hitherto owned majority stakes in them. The group explained that
EEDC terminated the lease agreement; citing breaches by Geometric and Aba Power
and that Geometric and Aba Power also have gone ahead to explore other means to
assert their rights.
It
was gathered that the Aba Power and Geometric Power have in trying to excise
the ring-fenced islands at Aba and Ariaria from EEDC, argued that an existing
agreement with the Federal Government gives it ownership of those portions of
the South-East electricity distribution market.
SAN
noted that the Enugu Disco, on the other hand, has continuously affirmed its
rightful ownership of the Aba distribution, noting that the Aba area,
Owerri-Nta, Osisi Oma, Ogbor Hill, Factory Road, and Port Harcourt Road in Aba,
Abia State, with its assets, are all integral part of the Enugu Disco coverage
and cannot be excised.
However,
the Group pointed out that due to the compliant by the consumers in Aba and its
environs over the poor services by EEDC and petitions sent to Consumers
Protection Council on the estimated billing by Enugu Disco and contractual
breach of the Power Sector Reform Act, the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) was
to commence prosecution procedures against the Enugu distribution companies
(DISCOs) for violating its enabling act in the on-going investigation of the
activities of the country’s DISCOs by not appearing to defend numerous complaints
of electricity consumers on the estimated billings, faulty transformers,
epileptic power supply and non-provision of pre-paid meters which many
consumers in Aba and its surroundings are suffering.
Therefore,
based on these issues raised, the group called on the NERC to sanction the EEDC
for breaching the contractual terms with consumers and review their operational
to make them responsible and accountable for all their actions, while urging that
the Vice President to immediately approve the taken over of this facility in
Aba and It surrounding areas by Aba
power as recommended by BPE, to ensure steady and uninterrupted power supply in
Aba in line of the president’s campaign promises when he visited Aba during the
electioneering campaign to reinvigorate and improve economic activities in Aba,
the Japan of Africa.
Save
Abia Now said they are concerned citizens of Abia State, a political pressure
group committed to reclaim Abia State from the undemocratic forces and bad
leadership occasioned by the administration of Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP,
who have controlled government in Abia state, and impoverished the people.
According to them, the group seems to chart a new course for the commoners of
Abia and help rebuild the state, from being the worst developed state across
the country. Save Abia Now comprises of committed professionals, scholars,
political analysts and rights activists who are determined to make the change
through constructive engagement and education of Abians; who are concerned to
restore the glory of the state.
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