Akwa Ibom State government has approved the construction of a new power station in Ikot Abasi urban to boost electricity supply in the area.
The area which hosts the state-owned Independent Power Plant has experienced power outages for a long time, which prompted youths in the area to embark on a protest.
The protest by the youths is said to have disrupted operations at the power plant as workers were prevented from having access to their offices.
Meyen Etukudo, managing director of Ibom Power Company who confirmed the disruption of operation, in an interview, said the state government has approved the construction of the new power station in a deliberate effort to restore power supply in the area.
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Etukudo said it was regrettable that when Ibom Power Plant was established, there was no provision of a substation to step down the power supply from the generating plant for the consumers in the community.
According to him, without any substation, there was no way the host community could have benefited from the Ibom power plant.
It was gathered that apart from the new substation which will ensure the availability of electricity in the area, electricity consumers in the area were in default of paying their electricity bills which forced the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution company (PHEDC) to cut off the area from public power supply.
Further checks reveal that it took the intervention of the governor after settling part of the bill owed by the community.
Etukudo who thanked the governor for approving the substation to improve power supply to the company’s host community, said Ibom Power Company was not responsible for the inability of the host community to enjoy electricity supply.
He appealed to the youths to embrace dialogue in resolving all grievances adding that the power generating company would continue to work with the community and all stakeholders to ensure peace.
