Power outage in Umuahia over clash with PHCN officials

Residents of the Abia State capital, Umuahia and its environs have been thrown into darkness since December 1, following a clash between some uniformed men and Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) workers.It was reported that some of the affected areas were: Ndume, Olokoro, Ibeku, Ossai, Amakama and Ubakala in Umuahia North and South local government areas.The blackout followed the December 1 invasion of PHCN office on Bende Road, Umuahia by some persons in military uniform.An official of PHCN had disconnected a building occupied by a female soldier on Factory Road, Umuahia, resulting in the invasion PHCN office by no fewer than 15 men in military uniform.After the invasion, the National Union of Electricity Employees in Abia, directed its members to stay away from duties due to the beating of members and arrest of others by the invaders.Mrs Lucy Njoku, who operates a drinking joint, told newsmen that she had been using her generators to power her refrigerators in the last four days.She said that her worry was that the officials of PHCN in the area had yet to make an official statement on the problem.Another resident, Mrs Adamma Ubochi, said that the food she kept in her deep freezer had spoilt as a result of the outage and appealed to PHCN to restore supply in the area.Mr Joseph Onovo, the PHCN Public Relations Officer, said, ``it is correct that soldiers came to our office over a minor problem between a customer and some of our people last week.``Police are still handling the matter. The issue of power outage is basically caused by logistic problem and as soon as that it is taken care of, power supply will be restored in the areas,`` Onovo said.
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