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Akwa Ibom State, south-south Nigeria, has remained without electricity for two days, causing hardship for business owners relying on power-generating set to run their businesses.
The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) said, in a statement on Wednesday, that the power outage in Akwa Ibom was caused by “earth fault”.
“Kindly note that the outage currently experienced on the Itu, Uyo, Eket, and Ekim 132 KV transmission stations is due to earth fault,” the PHED said in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter).
The electricity company, which said the entire Akwa Ibom is affected by the outage, said it was working with the Transmission Company of Nigeria maintenance crew to rectify the fault and restore supply as soon as the work is completed.
“For us, we have not had light for over three months now,” a salesgirl at a supermarket in Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo, told a PREMIUM TIMES reporter on Wednesday.
“I learnt that the transformer around here is bad,” she said, adding that they have been relying on power-generating sets and inverters to run the supermarket.
The cost of running a business in Akwa Ibom has been further compounded by the recent hike in the petrol price from N750 to N900 per litre in the state. In some filling stations, a litre goes for as much as N1,000.
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Meanwhile, in nearby Bayelsa State, residents have been without electricity supply for many days now because of the destruction of transmission towers by vandals.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said on Thursday that vandals destroyed 13 towers on the Ahoada-Yenagoa 132kV Double Circuit transmission line.
READ ALSO: Akwa Ibom principal flouts govt policy, imposes N10,000 fees on students
The Managing Director of TCN, Sule Abdulaziz, described the incident as a national disaster.
He urged the governments of Rivers and Bayelsa States to assist TCN in addressing the ongoing vandalism of its installations, which has “become increasingly alarming and overwhelming”.
Bayelsa State could remain without power for several months because of the destruction, Mr Abdulaziz said.
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