Rivers State is now at risk of total darkness after youths of Afam in Oyigbo Local Government Area of the state shut down the Afam Power Plant.
The youths were said to have shut down the Afam Power Plant following failure of the transmitter, Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHED to provide 24-hour power supply to the community.
This development was contained in a statement signed by an official of the company, Chioma Aninwe, who states the entire Afam community have refused to pay their bills amounting to billions of naira are demanding 24-hour power supply.
The company wondered why Afam community believes 24-hour power supply to the community is a Corporate Social Responsibility of PHED.
Aninwe in the statement says, “The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company,PHED received a disturbing report at about 21:04 pm last night, that some group of persons known as Oyigbo Youth had shut down Afam Transmission lines thereby throwing the entire Port Harcourt and indeed Rivers State into darkness.
“According to the report, this ugly incident which has become the order of the day is as a result of acclaimed insufficient power supply to their area by Oyigbo youths.
“The youth in their erroneous belief took laws into their hands and marched in their numbers to the Transmission Station, forcing the operators to shut down supply without observing safety measures.
“It will be recalled that PHED had held several meetings with their leadership, enlightening the community on load allocation formula from the National Grid and the need for PHED to apply systematic load shedding in order to accommodate all its customers.
“All these attempts have proved futile as Oyigbo youths insisted on a-24 hour supply, a situation that negates the effort of PHED in ensuring equitable distribution of supply to its numerous customers.”
