…CLO links Geometrics problem to politics
By Suleiman Anyalewechi Aba.
Amidst the groundswell of scathing public criticisms trailing the abysmal service delivery to Aba residents in the last few weeks by the Aba Power Limited, otherwise known as Geometrics a civil society group, Civil Liberties Organization, CLO, has risen in stout defence of the embattled power generating and distribution giant, blaming its recent woes on high wired political intrigues.
Aba residents have had to contend with an unprecedented epileptic power supply, coupled with long standing and deafening complaints about arbitrary billings and forceful collection of monthly bills from consumers using the services of security personnel.
In an interactive session with the press in Aba Comrade Ike Obigwe, Executive Secretary of Joint Action Committee, JAC, of Electricity Consumers in the commercial hub of Abia, while lamenting the poor service delivery by Aba Power Limited, decried its exploitative tendencies and most times outright extortion of the vulnerable Aba residents.
According to him, Aba Power Limited is treating Aba residents like a conquered people, and has allowed its operations to be highjacked by touts and all manners of scavengers, wondering why after nearly a year of taking over from the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, EEDC, power distribution to the nine local councils within the Aba service centre, it is yet to comply with the National Electricity Regulations on proper metering and billing.
Obigwe, therefore, called on the regulatory body to close monitor the activities of all Distribution Companies in the country, with a view to protecting consumers from their excesses.
But the CLO South East zone in a press release made available to the media in Aba on Tuesday April 25, said the recent power supply problem in Aba is as a result of official connivance, citing the disconnection of Geometric from the National Grid over a purported indebtedness to the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCM, to the tune of less than a billion naira.
The CLO, noted that before now, the other 11 Discos had been heavily indebted to the TCN, but the generating outfit has not deemed it exigent to cut them off from the national grid, adding that there appears to be a grand plot to drive Geometric under.
The civil society group expressed concern over the security implications of plunging a large and strategic commercial town like Aba into total darkness, warning that such a development poses a serious national security problem. The press release was signed by Comrade Aloy Attah.
