Many residents and business owners in Kubwa, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have expressed frustration following the power outage they have been experiencing for over one week.
The stakeholders, especially business operators, said they had lost millions of naira and business deals due to the power outage.
They told journalists on Sunday in Abuja that it was most worrisome that the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) had not given any reason for the outage.
They said if the company had given notice, they would have made arrangements on how to cope with the situation.
Eniola Aderenle, a food vendor, said she had bought food items that would last her for one month as she usually buys in bulk, both perishable and non-perishable and stores them in her refrigerator, but unfortunately everything has gone bad.
“I have lost a lot of money; this is very frustrating and annoying. It is even more painful that no reason has been given for the outage,” she said.
Another business owner, Kunle Babalola, who deals in frozen foods, described the development as worrisome, adding that all his commodities had gotten spoilt.
“I am so sad; I have lost so much money. The bank I took a loan from to stock my shop is after me; what am I supposed to do,” he said.
For Tunde Aremu, a barber, things had not been easy for him, as he had to rely on a generator to run his shop.
“I do not think any reason has been given for the outage; this is not proper at all. When notice is given that there will be a power outage, it enables people to make arrangements on how to cope with the situation,” he said.
Becky Umukoro, a housewife and mother of five, said all the foodstuff in her refrigerator had gotten rotten.
Ms Umukoro described the power outage as frustrating and disappointing.
“For a country that has so many mineral resources, we should not be in this kind of predicament,” she said.
Another resident, Isabella Osahon, said it was frustrating that a country that calls itself the giant of Africa is having power supply challenges.
Ms Osahon urged the federal government to, as a matter of urgency, take steps to address the situation.
Robert Are, Dupe Ogbede, and Elizabeth Okoro, all residents of Kubwa, expressed frustration at the outage and urged the authority concerned to address the situation without further delay.
All calls and text messages put across to the AEDC’s customer care line were not answered.
However, a company official told journalists the outage was due to a technical fault on the 330KV Shiroro-Katampe transmission line belonging to the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
He assured residents that the issue was being addressed.
(NAN)
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