By Our Correspondent
Power disruption has hit Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja over the country’s week power generation.
A massive power outage has thrown residents of major parts of Abuja suburb into darkness, shutting streets lights, destroying perishables and paralysing businesses.
Residents of the area lament they have not seen a flash of electric light since power supply was interrupted last week.
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company that covers the Federal Capital Territory, Nasarawa, Niger and Kogi States made the disclosure in a notice to customers.
The Disco blamed the decision to ration electricity across its franchise on insufficient power allocation.
AEDC said, “We would like to inform you that we are aware of the unstable power supply experienced in recent times essentially caused by insufficient power allocation.
“Due to the limited energy allocation, we have had and will continue to implement load curtailment directives across our franchise in order to manage the situation for grid stability.
“This will involve occasional temporary interruption of power supply to certain areas for a limited period of time.
We understand that this may cause inconvenience to our customers, and we apologize for this.”
Records from the AEDC shows allocation for March 7 was 516 Mega-Watts for the three states and the FCT.
Nigeria’s electricity generation has been between 4,000 to 5,000 Mega-Watts despite investments in the power sector.
Last year, it crashed from the 6,336.52 megawatts recorded in 2021 to 5,346.82MW.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure that the impact of the power outages are minimized, and we appreciate your understanding and cooperation during this challenging time,” AEDC said.
Meanwhile, Many residents of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, have continued to count their losses following the power blackouts in most parts of the Territory.
As Residents continue to complained about the prolonged blackouts in most parts of Abuja, worsened by unceasing monthly electricity bills.
Many areas suffer outages for five consecutive days. The poor power supply or blackouts had lingered for more than a month.
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, AEDC, had attributed the poor supply of electricity to its franchise areas to low power generation from the national grid.
Donald Etim, the AEDC Chief Marketing Officer, had said this in a statement issued in Abuja.
“The AEDC wishes to inform our customers in Kogi, Niger, Nasarawa and the FCT that the current low and unstable supply of electricity to homes and businesses is as a result of low power generated to the national grid.
“In recent weeks, the level of power generated and served to the national grid for onward delivery to customers has been abysmally low,” Etim said.
The development had led to load shedding in the affected areas.
Electricity consumers residing in Lugbe, Kuje, Area10, Central Area, Kubwa told our Correspondent in Abuja on Sunday that the poor power supply had affected their sources of income as well as their health.
Other residents and businesses said they found it difficult to understand why the power outage could linger for so long, especially as the federal government had managed to contain vandals.
Residents in other parts of the capital, including Maitama and Asokoro, also expressed concerns about poor electricity in recent weeks, but an AEDC official told Aljazirah Nigeria none of the outages was up to one week.
Esohe Omohe, a Fashion Designer said that in the last two months, the power situation had worsened thereby, affecting her business.
Ms Omohe said that the fuel scarcity had worsened the situation as she could not get fuel to power her generator.
According to her, most fueling stations have refused to sell in jerry cans.
“There is no light, no fuel, the situation is terrible and we are appealing to the Federal Government for quick intervention before people die of hunger,” she said.
Uche Okoro, an ice block seller described the light situation as “bad and worrisome’’.
Ms Okoro said that the electricity supply was not as regular as it used to be in the past, saying that the power supply had been epileptic for more than a month.
According to her, the beer parlour I am operating to assist my family is no longer thriving as most nights there is no light to power the freezers to cool drinks.
“I am appealing to the management of AEDC and the Federal Government to do something urgently about this so we can get some respite,’’ she said.
In Jedo Estate on Airport Road, a welder, Innocent Okpara, said lack of stable electricity supply in the area had continued to affect his work, saying that he now depends only on generators to do his job.
He said that the electricity situation in the area had worsened in the last two months and this had adversely affected his income.
“As you can see, these doors and windows I am making are for my customers. If there is steady power supply, I will be able to deliver and earn some income.
“Even when there is light, it hardly lasts up to two hours and we understand there is load shedding currently ongoing.
“We are appealing to the AEDC to give us light at night even if it is for four hours, as we have not slept with light for more than three weeks,’’ he said.
Joseph Okiri, a dry cleaner whose poor electricity supply had affected his business terribly, appealed to the government and management of AEDC to urgently address the electricity situation.
Jude Omokhua, a barbing saloon owner in Kuje said lack of stable electricity supply had always been his major challenge.
Mr Omokhua said that the most annoying thing was that there was no fuel to power his generator, adding that in spite of the situation, AEDC officials still brought electricity bills that must be settled.
Shola Balogun, a printer at UTC Shopping Mall at Area 10, said the poor power supply had crippled business activities in the area.
“I do a lot of printing, but presently there is no electricity to work, no fuel to power my generator, I am appealing to the government to come to our aid as we are really suffering,” Mr Balogun said.