Some residents of Warri, the commercial city of Delta State, have complained that the persistent power outage in the area has become unbearable.
The residents, who live in Willie and Etuwewe areas of the city, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Warri that the prolonged blackout has crippled their businesses.
An hair stylist, Mrs Rukevwe Amoma, described the persistent power outage as “a very big obstacle’’ to her means of livelihood.
Amoma said: “The continuous power failure is affecting my daily income and I do not find the situation funny.
“I now spend so much in fueling my generating set in order to do my business and retain my customers. I spend between N1,200 and N1,500 daily on fuel.’’
A welder, Mr. Mike Tony, also said the situation has affected his trade resulting in loss of customers.
“My job is welding and some of my customers have retrieved the jobs they gave to me because there is no light to do the work.
“Sometimes I take some of the work to my friends’ workshops in Ekpan and it costs me money to do that. I don’t have a generator and there is no electricity.
“I don’t know what to do now other than to beg BEDC to restore electricity supply to this area because the blackout is affecting my job and family,’’ he said.
Another resident, Mr. Simeon Asowota, said the problem started in 2014 but became worse last month.
Asowata noted: “Of course we all know that the power situation in the whole country is bad but our experience in this area is more worrisome.
“Since March this year, we have been in total darkness and there is no hope of getting out of the mess in the nearest future. “The BEDC officials shut us out and we don’t even know what is happening as I speak to you.’’
Mrs Morenike Adebayo, a new tenant in Etuwewe, said she regretted moving into the place. “Since we packed into our apartment, we have not enjoyed public power supply even for one day and the weather is very hot.
“We run our generator throughout the night and so do our neighbours too. This makes the whole compound terribly noisy at night. BEDC should do something,’’ she said.
Contacted, Mr Edmond Gbinwi, the Public Relations Officer of BEDC, Warri South Business Unit, said the transformer serving the area was faulty.
Gbinwi told NAN that the transformer had been taken away by the company for repairs, but added that he did not know when the repairs would be completed.
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