Ossiomo Power Outage: Shortage of gas grounds govt facilities, others In Edo

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BY ANDY EGBON

BENIN CITY - Power outage has grounded activities in some government establishments, including health facilities, the courts on Sapele Road, Government House and ministries in Benin City.

It was gathered that the power outage was occasioned by the non-availability of gas to power the Ossiomo Power plant which supplies electricity to street lights, some private homes, government offices, including the Edo State Industrial Hub where several Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) operate.

The Press Centre of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Edo State Council where journalists converge daily to send their reports to their respective office headquarters was also affected by the power outage

Owners of offices at the Industrial Hub lamented their plight to journalists as they said they have lost fortune due to the power outage which entered its fourth day on Friday October 20, 2023

It was gathered that the Edo State Specialist Hospital and other public health care facilities have suspended carrying out surgeries due to the non-availability of power so as to reduce the incidence of death

Anxiety at the NUJ Press centre was however high as the leadership locked up the toilet facilities because of lack of water supply 

Journalists were stranded as many of them had to relocate to a nearby hotel to recharge their  GSM handset and laptops to enable them send their stories

A dealer in frozen food at the Industrial hub told journalists that, “I have lost so much, running into millions of naira. We were forced to bury our frozen products that had become unfrozen and were rotten away because we depended on this Ossiomo light.”  
   
A staff of Ossiomo power plant blamed the gas supplier, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited, a subsidiary of the NNPCL which he said questioned the competence of some of the personnel there. 

“We are not suspecting sabotage though the situation is that we have different oil mining licenses, supplying gas in this country. 

"Right now, about the biggest one is OML 34 in Oben operated by Seplat, compared the performance of Seplat at Oben and the performance of NPDC at Ologbo; the gas is there; the oil is there; the resources are there; it is just who is managing the resources, maintain and operating them; that is where the challenge is.

"For example, we had a challenge in one of our substations and NPDC brought archaic materials that put everybody at risk and we had to buy the equipment which is not our role. This has gone on for four days and if you ask them, they won’t even tell you, but it has to do with competence."
   
When newsmen visited the Airport Road headquarters of the NPDC in Benin City, a senior personnel in the operations department said he cannot speak officially, but however said that, “I have been able to reach the engineer who is working to fix the problem and he assured the issue will be resolved before Sunday.”

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