Communities protest two years’ power outage in Rivers

Residents in some communities in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of River State on Tuesday stormed the office of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company to protest two years of irregular power supply.

The protesters from communities including Oroazi, Rumuochukwu, Rumuola, Chinda, Orowo, and Tombia Extension, marched from the Captain Elechi Polytechnic to PHED Alpha 1 Zone, Rumuola, and Refinery Feeder Station.

Seen with placards with inscriptions such as ‘Tenants don leave rent run, PHED pls help’, ‘By-pass is on every Feeder and it is done by PHED staff, how sincere are you, PHED?’ under canopies mounted in front of the PHED office, the protesters demanded that power be restored to the area.

According to them, the communities have suffered blackouts for two years, even after they paid their bills.

They lamented that the situation had affected their means of livelihood, causing untold hardship.

The residents said power in the area had been stable until the new management changed everything, and pleaded with the government to look into their plight.