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From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Pro-democracy group, the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), has condemned the current power outage in Abia State as a result of the disconnection of the Aba Power Limited (APL) from the national grid by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
CLO described the deliberate action of TCN as a siege not only against the people of Abia State, but the South East as a whole, which was capable of endangering national security.
This is even as residents and business owners in Aba, the commercial nerve of the state have expressed displeasure over the power outage which is entering its 7th day.
CLO in a statement signed by its Chairman, South East zone, Aloysius Attah called on President Muhammadu Buhari to not only direct the Ministry of Power to restore electricity to Abia people but also probe the Market Operator and the TCN for the abrupt electricity disconnection to Abia people.
The pro-democracy group recalled that Aba Power, which provides electricity to nine out of the 17 local government areas of Abia State, was cut off from the sole transmission network in the country last week over alleged N896,210,059.58 debt it was said to owe TCN.
CLO queried why APL should be singled out for punishment if indeed the allegation was true.
“All the other 11 DisCos established since 2013 are owing far greater amounts, yet none has been subjected to this treatment because the Federal Government understands the far-reaching implications of putting any part of the country in complete darkness even for a day,” the South East zone of the CLO said.
“Far from allowing any part of Nigeria to be plunged into darkness, the government has been subsidising the DisCos with a fortune, despite being private entities”.
While asserting that the Federal Government subsidised the distribution companies with N120bn in 2022 alone, CLO said it was ridiculous that the Market Operator, an arm of the Transmission Company of Nigeria owned by the FG, “didn’t mind putting a whole state, including security agencies in the area which rely on constant electricity supply to discharge their duties to Nigerians in darkness, with grave security consequences.”
CLO noted that Aba, as Nigeria’s manufacturing capital and a commercial centre, TCN’s action was capable of disrupting national security.
Recall that TCN had in a letter with reference number TCN-MO-003-APL-049-VOL2-202 dated April 30, 2023, asked Aba power to clear its debt within 30 days.
However, the company on the same day, wrote another letter with reference number TCN-MO-003-EDTSP-C37—VOL7-2023 to the Market Operator, directing it to pull off Aba Power from the transmission network within 24 hours. This was carried out and most parts of Abia have been in darkness since then.
Meanwhile, residents and business owners in Aba are groaning over the effect of the power outage on their businesses
A cross-section of some residents and other electricity users within the nine local government areas of the state under the Aba Ring-fenced being controlled by Geometric, and who spoke to Daily Sun, accused TCN of economic sabotage and insensitively.
“We are just recovering from the effect of the recent cashless Policy of the CBN. The business is gradually picking up and to think of buying about 20 litres of fuel at N250 every day is not in the best interest of my business.”
The residents called on TCN and APL to resolve whatever problem they have and ensured that power was restored to the commercial city and its environs without delay.
