Dr. Engr. Odo Ijere Advises Hon. Ibe Okwara Osonwa On Ohafia Electricity Problems
MY INFORMED RESPONSE TO REPRESENTATIVE IBE OKWARA OSONWA AMID EEDC SUPPLY BLACKMAIL.
I have operated long enough in the electricity supply industry to be able to understand and speak to their body language of deceit. I have been a privileged operator as Consultant to NEPA Southeast zone, PHCN Southeast zone and then to where EEDC was created through privatization.
And so when Representative Ibe Okwara Osonwa recently announced his terms of settlement of the issues between EEDC and Ohafia community, which among other things recommended a N100 million part payment to EEDC to facilitate their restoration of supplies, that’s where we were caught pants down.
I knew they would opt for money-for-hands rule of engagement before action on restoration could be taken by them. Such down-payment would allow them to readjust to start the real discussion for their dubious claims of N2.1 Billion without still giving the promised supplies.
That N100 million so claimed by EEDC was to be a hook at the throat of Ohafia people to start vomiting unearned cash from our collective patrimony. But thank God, the scam could not advance beyond the hatchery but was stillborn. Ohafia should never contemplate giving EEDC shishi because they are a big and fattened scam.
I acted as consultant to the Ohafia Electricity Restoration Committee, headed by Former Commissioner, Kingsley Imaga where we literally cleared all the supply issues with the community understanding and collaboration of EEDC Umuahia district. The former Deputy Chief of Staff, Chief Barrister Olugu Kalu Ugba also eminently served in that Committee.
I was there in person to follow up on the issues from my professional point of view and blessed with informed knowledge of the supply parametrics in the line route from Itu in Akwaibom to Arochukwu to Abam and to Ohafia.
Bush clearing was undertaken along Oboro to Okagwe to Amaekpu to Ebem power station. A total of 65 woiden poles where replanted with concrete poles along the same route, 75 wooden cross arms were changed to channel arms, 36 stays assembly were procured and installed, 18 transformers were fixed of various problems, 100 meters of 135mm² three phase armored cable was procured and installed at the Ebem power station following the theft of the underground cable at the Ebem power house etcetera.
My site inspection carried out as consultant to the Committee discovered that they only needed 60 meters of the three phase armored cable to replace the stolen one but they asked for 100 meters which was given to them at the unbearable cost then of N65,000 per meter.
They run a night and day security shift in the Ebem power station but someone still dug out the underground cable and disconnected it from the mains 2×15 MVA power transformers and switchboard and carried it away undetected. You need at least 3 able bodied men to lift that cable up but it was stolen like pebble anyway.
I complained and pointed fingers at the security personnel guarding the place should be arrested. But they’re still EEDC employees till today anyway. Nevertheless, EEDC were unperturbed as they pointed out to the Committee, every problem both imagined and unimagined to solve.
Ten out of 18 transformers that were fixed by the Committee passed the test by EEDC personnel for energizing when the team assigned to do the job were suddenly withdrawn for other assignments. That was how the exercise was frustrated until Alex Otti and Labour Party took over the reigns of government in Abia State. The rest is history.
Soon after the entry of the new government, The Deputy Governor, Engr. Ikechukwu Emetu, started his own intervention process and very surprisingly, the EEDC started taking him and his team through most of the already resolved issues by the erstwhile Ohafia Electricity Restoration Committee.
The same merry go round continued till Representative Ibe Okwara Osonwa took his petition and Ohafia frustration to national limelight. Ibe Okwara Osonwa should be advised to step up his well served activism by leading Ohafia to seek for court interpretations of EEDC impunity instead of just venting frustrations .
I had in one of my recent interventions opined that the appropriate steps to take was to speak to legal actions against the EEDC by approaching the court. It is apparent that EEDC has breached the privatization act by keeping our community in blackouts consistently for five years. They have also breached the NERC regulations by not metering our community and resorting to estimated bills to assert a claim of N2.1Billion Naira.
It should not be difficult for Ohafia to assemble our legal luminaries and experts to strip EEDC naked. We should seek a court mandamus to enforce our fundamental human rights as a component part of this federation whose assets were privatized to the EEDC in the first place.
Ohafia is afterall part owners of the electricity infrastructure assets through NEPA, through PHCN before being handed over to EEDC to manage. We should be able to interrogate the privatization process as it affects our community now.
Ohafia instead of looking for money to pay EEDC should look for money to sue EEDC for N100 Billion Naira damage to our economy for five uninterrupted years. The money we make from the lawsuit will be invested in procuring Ohafia independent power generation plant.
Engr. Dr. Odo Ijere.
