The Nigeria Consumer Protection Network (NCPN) has kicked against the two weeks planned power outages in Abuja.
Kunle Kola Olubiyo, President, NCPN in a statement copied to Vital News on Tuesday said the plan outages by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is unacceptable as it constitutes national security risk.
The statement reads : “The planned 2 weeks power outages in Abuja is the height of irresponsibility that is inconceivable , unimaginable and of course unacceptable.
“We have received several calls from our women folks and housewives and others .
“Who have complained bitterly about the cost of this planned outages on their soup ingredients and stock piles of perishable items kept in their refrigerators .
“There are women and housewives that have stocked their refrigerators with soup and delicacies that could ordinarily have lasted them for One Month or two months or more.
“One could imagine the cost of unscheduled power outages to our women and an average poor family struggling to cope with the prevailing global high cost living..
“With Petroleum Products
( PMS , Diesel or Gas selling for above
One Thousand Naira
( N1, 080.00k ), most Vunerable Women folks can not afford the cost of Fueling their Generators which before the 2023 Removal of Subsidies would have bn readily affordable..
“By implications every housewives/ households in Abuja would require an average of minimum
Thirty Thousand Naira ( N30, 000 .00k ) – Seventy Thousand Naira
( N70, 000 .00k ) per day to provide alternatives sources of energy per day within the two weeks period of unscheduled power outages..
“These are tall order and not affordable for an average home / indigent poor masses ..
“Talking about sensitivity to public interest and electorate .
“The Distribution Licensee in charge of Abuja and Transmission Company of Nigeria are acting in ways and manners that made them National Security Risks and undermined the Goodwill and Gains recorded by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR
and by implications trying to depletes the Political Capital of the Present administration.
“All that we had expected is for Transmission Company of Nigeria and Abuja Electricity Distribution Company
to seek for money to build a back up Transmission Sub Station at the proposed new site while the current one is still in circuits.
“Upon completion, then
AEDC and Transmission Company of Nigeria can then string the network/ cable ( 132KV/ 330KV Transmission Network) in collaboration with
Federal Capital Development Authority ( FCDA ) / FCT Administration.
“These could be designed under Transmission and Distribution Network Expansion Developmental Projects.
“We all agreed Distribution and Transmission Network Expansion Pace have not been at the same pace with increasing Urban expansion..
However, this might be, the activities by combination of TCN , AEDC and FCDA in putting 70% of Abuja Metropolis in 2 weeks darkness/ power outages is OUTRIGHTLY IRRESPONSIBLE ,
RECKLESSNESS And
Lack Cordination in Developmental Planing..
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR should call
Transmission Company of Nigeria and Abuja Electricity Distribution Company to order to
instilled sanity..
“There should also be sanctions against
Transmission Company of Nigeria & Abuja Electricity Distribution Company to restore sanity!!!
” PRAYERS :
The road project should be expanded, a new set of 330KV/ 132KV/ 33KV Network & Transmission Transformers should be installed using the Available stocks of Transformers , Towers and Line Materials from the Siemens Power Project and stocks of Items and line materials Available from the warehouses of Multilateral Finance Developmental Projects funded windows of PMU World Bank, PMU AfDB , JICA and the likes .
“The emphasis here is Network must be designed and installed and on completion cable / Conductors could stringed within 72 hours as against 72 hours of unscheduled and painful prolonged power outages.
“Apart from the losses to domestic end users customers.
“The losses in several Billions of Dollars to be incurred by Bulk Users of Electricity,Manufacturers,Small, Micro , Medium and Large Scale Enterprises ( SMMEs ) and hugely devastating and unquantifiable..
“Hence, the urgent need for Presidential intervention for the
Federal Capital Territory Administration/ FCDA
Transmission Company of Nigeria and Abuja Electricity Distribution Company to sit down at a round table and fashion out a better way of more coordinated collaboration between the critical stakeholders to minimise the effects of these well intended Developmental projects by FCT Administration.”
(vitalnewsngr.com)
