Anambra Community Stages Protest Over Six-Year Power Outage

Residents of Ukpor, the headquarters of Nnewi South Local Government Area in Anambra State, took to the streets on Friday to protest a six-year-long power outage in their community.

The demonstrators, gathered at the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) office in the area, expressed their frustration through chants and placards bearing messages such as “EEDC, give us prepaid meters,” “Small-scale businesses in Ukpor have all closed,” and “Help our students, give them light to read at night.”

The community accused EEDC of deliberately cutting off their power supply and taking away their transformers under the guise of refurbishing them. According to the Chairperson of the Ukpor Electricity Consumers Committee, Nkwadochukwu Onwughalu, EEDC disconnected Ukpor from the industrial power line and removed five transformers from the area. While two of the transformers were later returned, the remaining three were allegedly installed in another community, leaving Ukpor in darkness.

Onwughalu also accused the electricity company of bulk billing the community and failing to address vandalism issues related to the transformers. He highlighted that the previous administration of Willie Obiano had connected Ukpor to the industrial line, but the community was disconnected shortly after Obiano left office.

Valentine Ifechigha, a leader within Ukpor Zone 3, stated that the community would no longer pay for electricity services they are not receiving. He called for the return of the missing transformers and the reinstatement of the 33kVA line installed in 2017. Ifechigha also demanded the issuance of prepaid meters to individual consumers.

The prolonged power outage has taken a toll on local businesses. Pius Onyeanusi, an entrepreneur, shared that he was forced to shut down his water factory due to the lack of electricity, leading to the loss of 25 jobs.

EEDC Business District Manager, Evaristus Obeta, who met with the protesters, assured them that he would relay their concerns to the company’s management. However, he declined to comment on the specific allegations regarding the removal of the transformers.