Uche Cecil Izuora
Aba Power, has blacklisted one of its major wire and cable suppliers for failure to provide it with wires at the weekend to resume immediate electricity supply to a community in Abia State which had been without power for three weeks following the destruction of six high tension (HT) poles in the area by a windstorm.
The utility has also apologized to the Umuomainta Autonomous Community in Nbawsi-Nsulu, Ngwa North Local Government Area of Abia State for not giving it light because of the failure by the contractor to supply wires to reconnect the community to regular electricity supply.
In an email to newsmen and stakeholders in Aba, Edise Ekong, Aba Power’s Brand Communication Senior Manager, stated: “We are surprised that this contracting firm could fail to provide the needed wires because its two storekeepers travelled out of town at the weekend to celebrate Easter without making any arrangement for the supply of the wires from their store to our people on site”.
Though the name of the firm was not released at the time of going to press, it was understood that the company is based in Aba.
Ekong continued: “It’s so pesky to see this community comprising nine villages without light during Easter after Aba Power had paid the contractor fully upfront and the contractor was informed clearly of the urgency of the situation”.
The Aba Power spokesman disclosed that poles were procured from Abak in Akwa Ibom State and Port Harcourt in Rivers State because of the scarcity of electric poles in Aba and the environs “and mounted promptly, with our operational staff waiting for three days to reconnect supply to this community, only to be disappointed by the contractor.
“We have no option than to blacklist this firm and severe all forms of business relationship with it immediately, even though this is the first time it has breached terms of contract”.
Aba Power apologized to the Umuomainta, pledging to resume power supply to the community tomorrow (Tuesday).
“We have just obtained wires from two traders who sold the material to us at a high price because of the Easter holidays, so our operational staff members are about to return to site”.
Ekong expressed gratitude to the elders of the Umuomainta community and their followers for their support “when they saw our crew installing the poles at the weekend”.
Meanwhile, Aba Power has appealed to members of the public to stay away from poles during rains because many of the “poles in our distribution network are weak and compromised.
“They were installed about 15 years ago during the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) days and, from the look of things, they didn’t meet technical requirements.
“We don’t to lose any person to electrocution, nor do we want poles to fall on people”.
The communication manager said the company has lost over 70 high tension poles and over 10 low tension poles to windstorms and haulage trucks in the last one month due to the “unprecedented economic activity in the state which sees so many big trucks at the Abia Airport construction site, at numerous housing, estates, and development project sites.
“We would, therefore, appeal to truckers to have our wires and poles in mind when they are driving.
‘In fact, it is in their interest that they do because contact with live wires is often dangerous.
“We thank God that no trucker has been electrocuted in the Aba Ring-fenced Area in the last few years”.