Itam Youth Responsible For Darkness In Akwa Ibom - PHED

Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHED, wishes to draw the attention of Security Agencies, Government Functionaries, Electricity users and indeed members of the public that the entire Akwa Ibom state including the state capital has been thrown into unwarranted darkness by the Itam Youth Forum.

The forced outage is sequel to the action of the Youth Development Forum under the leadership of Obong Ubong Akpan who early this morning barricaded Transmission Station, located at Itu near the state capital, thereby forcing the station to shut down supply forcefully.

In addition, the same group later moved to PHED office at 4- Lane with a coffin, a show of shame championed by its leader, dropped the said coffin at the entrance of the office, scared customers away, thereby leading to operations blockade of the company.

The action of the Youth has therefore, led to inability of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, to wheel out power to Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company for onward distribution to its valued customers in Akwa Ibom state.

Also, the economic activities of the entire state have been brought to a halt as a result of the sacking of TCN’s officials on duty by the irate youth.

The action of the youth may have been surreptitious by its leader, Ubong Akpan who has repeatedly demanded for a contract worth N6, 660,000.00 to carry out enumeration on behalf of PHED in his community, Itu, comprising 79 villages.

Of course the management did not succumb to his hate speech and blackmail, hence, he now organized and misled unsuspecting members of his group in order to achieve his self-aggrandizement which he purportedly hinged on poor supply to his community-Itu.

He also submitted a proposal to PHED for sensitization in his community amounting to N731, 200.00 which was declined for lack of merit since there is an- house department responsible for publicity.

Severally, we have met and engaged the community on the value chain in the electricity industry which we exhaustively educated them on its relevance to the sector.

PHED cannot be intimidated or coerced into doing the biddings of “A self-acclaimed-messiah” as we have the mandate of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, to distribute power supply to our customers including Itu community in our franchise area.

We therefore, call on the relevant government functionaries especially the security agencies to step in and advise Ubong Akpan and his group to vacate the premises of the TCN and remove their coffin from PHED’s office in Uyo with a view to wheeling out supply to PHED customers.

John Onyi
Manager, Corporate Communications,
PHED