The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution (PHED) Plc has denied allegations of corruption said to have been attributed to a top official of the Akwa Ibom State power company.
In a statement made available to BusinessDay in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, it stated that it has yet to come to terms with such a “fallacious story that PHED is corrupt and offers poor services.”
According to the statement which was signed by John Onyi, the communications manager of the company, it stated that it has yet to understand “the rationale behind such unfounded and malicious statement coming from a major key player who is also an intermediary between the state and PHED.”
The statement read in part, “The attention of Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Plc., PHED, has been drawn to a widely circulated and misconceived story alleging that *“PHED is corrupt and offers poor services*
“The Management of PHED has not come to terms with such a fallacious story and is yet to understand the rationale behind such unfounded and malicious statement coming from a major key player like him who is also an intermediary between the state and PHED.
“Without ambiguity, PHED is a responsible organization that has zero-tolerance for corruption.
“The Management of PHED under the leadership of Henry Ajagbawa has reinvigorated the fight against corruption in different dimensions from sanctioning to naming and shaming of offenders arising from energy theft, meter bypass, unauthorized access to the network, among many others.
He said Ajagbawa on the assumption of office, had implemented many projects aimed at service improvement adding that some of the projects include rehabilitation of Itam 2×7.5 MVA 33/11kv Injection Substation, condition monitoring of 12Nos within Akwa Ibom, installation of the complete protection scheme, and rehabilitation of 11kv panel at Itam Injection substation.
According to him, filtration was also carried out on 1×15 MVA 33/11kv located at Ikot Ekpene to improve availability on outgoing 11kv feeders.
“Also, several maintenance jobs on the network were not left out in its avowed determination in service delivery to its customers.
“In addition, PHED embarked on massive investment in electricity infrastructure with reference to the construction and stringing of a new feeder and its configuration to evacuate 48 megawatts from Rumuosi Transmission station in Port Harcourt to augment the daily allocation from the national grid, among other areas.
He said on 31st August 2020, the Company launched a State-Of-The-Art 24/7 Call Centre, adjudged to be one of the best in Nigeria aimed at giving customer unfettered access to report service faults anytime with real-time resolutions.
Onyi stated that over 355 graduates from different fields of human endeavor were recently employed to meet service demand of which Uyo Zone has over 22 percent of the entire workforce.
“Contrary to the publication, PHED did not bring in old PHCN staff to its fold but rather some of them that have demonstrated competence after the successful privatization of electricity industry on November 1, 2013, were absolved into the system.
“To encourage and motivate staff members for efficiency and productivity, the new management under Dr. Henry Ajagbawa gave permanent appointment to hitherto outsourced DSOs-Distribution System Operators and went ahead to increase the salaries of lines-workers who have remained stagnant since their employment over six years ago.
” On revenue drive, PHED beyond operating in its capacity as a business entity is mandated by Regulators to remit funds of a certain percentage of energy used by the customers. It is, therefore, imperative that our collection drive must be at its best for the survival of the company.
He noted while the company “welcomes constructive criticisms targeted at service improvement, it is very unfortunate that such a discordant voice is coming from a supposed partner in the electricity industry.”
He assured that the company “will continue to engage its stakeholders in its franchise area for mutual benefits.”
