Total Blackout hits South South States

The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company PHED has stated that the National Power Grid has collapsed as the power crisis bedeviling the country is set to linger a little longer.

As a result, four states in the South-South – Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross River and Akwa Ibom – will be plunged in total blackout in the coming days, PM News reports.

Jonah Iboma, Head of Corporate Communications of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company revealed that PHED is now receiving zero power from the national grid following Sunday’s collapse.

Iboma however added that PHED would source for power from other alternative sources to tone down the impact of the acute shortage occasioned by the collapse, which is expected to throw most cities in the aforementioned states into total darkness.

Iboma further mentioned that PHED would distribute whatever little power it could generate from alternative sources within this period on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Consumers in Rivers State have already started experiencing insufficient power supply since the collapse, particularly in areas that power supply was adequate.

It is a similar situation in other parts of the country where power supply has been insignificant or non-existent for the better part of one year, although experts blame the latest shortfall on activities of Niger Delta militants who have done considerable damage on oil and gas installations in recent times.

There may be light at the end of the tunnel though, as Minister of Power, Babatunde Fashola last week assured citizens of government’s readiness to complete all ongoing projects in the next three years.