From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Residents and businesses in Kano, Katsina and Jigawa States have decried the sharp drop in power supply by the Kano Electric Distribution Company(KEDCO).
Saturday Sun investigation disclosed that in the last few weeks, rationed power supply dropped to less than two hours in these states, a situation which climaxed during the Easter break, when most Christian residential areas celebrated the festival in darkness.
The blackout is happening at a time when the temperature is as high as 43 degrees Celsius in these states, with heavy sunlight blasting from 7.00am to 700pm and the heat utterly hurtful
Saturday Sun was told that the decline in power supply in these states had led to grave economic losses, especially to dealers of frozen foods and other perishable items that depend on power.
Also badly affected are small scale companies and local industries which had to switch to fuel and diesel to run their generators while some had to suspend production whenever there was blackout.
It also negatively impacted on the sales of beverages, forcing water vendors and retailers of sweetened beverages to resort to ice blocks to cool their drinks.
However in its reaction, the Kano Electricity Distribution Company, said the drop is due to ongoing network upgrades in some of its critical distribution infrastructure as well as vegetation control on its feeders
Sani Bala Sani, KEDCOs spokesman, explained that the works required safe working space for their engineers to operate.
He added that they had to carry out the upgrades to forestall any network disruptions during the forthcoming raining season.
While apologizing for the power outage, he assured the public of a speedy completion of the project. End.