By Constance Athekame
Many residents of Kubwa, a surburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT ), are counting their losses following the power outage in most parts of the area for over four weeks.
Some of the residents who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, said that power situation in the area had deteriorated.
According to them, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC ) should do something about the outage being experienced in the area.
Investigations by NAN revealed that operators of businesses such as saloons, beer parlours, cafes, dry cleaning and Ice block making shops among others had closed down as they rely on power to run their shops.
Also, families, who stocked their homes with food stuff, especially perishable food items during the Yuletide to last them till Easter are saddened by the development.
They said they had been buying fuel from the black market at exorbitant rates to power their refrigerators in order to preserve their foods.
According to them, fuelling stations don’t sell fuel in gallons and so they have no choice than to buy from the black market.
“We can no longer cope, for how long do we continue to buy fuel from black market, this is really frustrating.
“Yesterday, I threw away food that had gone bad in my freezer, I really felt bad because i know how much it cost me to buy the ingredients i used in preparing the food.
“If AEDC says it is load shedding, how come Kubwa doesnt have light for even one hour in a day, what is our offence,” Mrs Ese Williams, a Civil Servant lamented.
Mr Rahman Musa, a Journalist resident in Phase 4, told NAN that power situation in the area was so bad that for days there would be electricity.
Musa said that the situation has really created problem for those of them who stored food in the fridge as most of the items got spoilt.
“The AEDC should try and do something about the situation as there was a time we were enjoying electricity and we thought it has come to stay.
“I am appealing to AEDC to get to the root of the problem so that we can enjoy power at least for 12 hours a day even if there is load-shedding, it should go round, ‘’he said.
Mrs Ruth Zoho, a Fashion Designer residing in Phase 2, said that the power situation in that area was very terrible.
According to her, even when there is power supply, it does not last more than an in a day.
She said that this was not so in other areas in the FCT where they have power for some hours, so what is wrong with Kubwa.
“This is affecting my business seriously as I cannot meet up with my customers demands and I am losing most of them.
“Even at home, I am not able to store food in my fridge because no regular power supply as I don’t know whether the Naira swap was also affecting power supply.
“I am calling on AEDC and other power stakeholders to alleviate the plight of Nigerians by doing everything possible to give us power to ease our tension,” she said.
Also speaking, Mr Uche Okechukwu, a banker residing at Site 2, Phase 2, said that the light situation in his area had been so bad that in a day there would be no light for two hours.
Okechukwu said that in the last few weeks, there was no day they slept with electricity, adding that from 10 a.m. there maybe light before 2 p.m. the light is gone till the next day.
“When I tried to make inquiry, AEDC said that there is an upgrade of facilities in Kubwa and I don’t know what to believe as the power situation is very bad.
“We don’t even cook at home to store in the freezer anymore, before now we cook to store in the fridge and this can last for two weeks but now we just cook what we can eat per day.
“With this situation where there is no Naira to buy what to eat it is difficult to meet up and we have kids,” he said.
Mr Fedelis Okon, a Welder, residing at Kubwa Village said that the situation had affected his business as he could no longer work to earn a living.
Okon said that the power situation had made it difficult for him to work as he depends on electricity to do his job.
”I have not been able to work as I depend on electricity to do my job and I heard AEDC is carrying out load-shedding in doing that let them ensure it goes round.
”i don’t know why Kubwa is different, other areas have light at least for about eight hours a day they can do same for Kubwa, ” he said.
Commenting on the issue, Mr Donald Etim, the Chief Marketing Officer, AEDC, said that the current outage in Kubwa was due to normal load-shedding. (NAN)
