Panic As Aba-Itu Transmission Line Collapses

Over one week of power outage across Akwa Ibom State has created panic as socio-economic activities, except government businesses, have been crippled in the state.

LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered yesterday that petty businesses including restaurants, pubs, salons, frozen food businesses and other allied activities are the worst affected.

“My generator has been bad and for one week now, I couldn’t power my refrigerators. As a result, my frozen foods have been seriously affected, forcing me to dispose them at cheap rates,” Nneoma Anyanwu, a frozen foods dealer at Akpan Andem Market lamented.

The same outcries reverberate on the roads, commercial buses, tricycles and other public spaces in Uyo, the state capital, as laundry, hair/barbing salon operators, and shop owners continue to wonder why the entire state could be in darkness for weeks.

“We can’t even buy petrol now because the price has jumped up astronomically at between N1,200 and N1,500 per litre with many filling stations shut because of no supply,” said Akpan Ukpong, a pub owner along the popular Red-light Zone, ‘Maitama’ Ewet Housing.

However, giving the reason behind the power crisis in the state, the managing director (MD) of the Ibom Power Company (IPC), Engr Meyen Etukudo, explained that the prolonged blackout was caused by the collapse of a major electricity infrastructure.

Engr Etukudo revealed that the blackout was due to the snapping of the Ekim-Aba transmission line which has been in operation since 1978.