Entrepreneurs in Aba seek increased power supply to stay in business

Industrialists in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State, have attributed closure of industries in the area to inadequate power supply.

 
Consequently, they urged the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) to increase electricity supply to the area, to enable industries operate optimally.

 
Aba Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA), a city chamber, said small and medium industries in the commercial city were shutting down due to inadequate power supply.

 
The chamber in a recent publication in ACCIMA Bulletin noted that few industries were managing to survive, because they provide their own power supply, an indication that their installed capacity utilisation was far from being realised, hence making the economy more unstable, which in turn results to socio-economic insecurity.

 
According to ACCIMA, Aba is a city made up of sheer self-help efforts and enterprise. Aba is a town known for its numerous hubs of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). It is a city bubbling with the abundance of human potentials in various areas of interest, contributing its quota to the revival of Nigeria’s economy.

 
“Despite Aba’s contribution to the economy, the area receives an allocation of 10-15 megawatts of electricity from the national grid, against the required 110-120 megawatts,” he said.

 
The chamber called for more allocation of power from the national grid to Aba, at least 50-80 megawatts of uninterrupted power supply as was done with other cities of the country below Aba in economic activities, saying it should enable the rehabilitation of some industrial concerns that had shut down, thereby ensuring societal security.
Godwin Iheme, managing director, ICI Garment Limited, affirmed that with adequate power supply, Aba industrialists could contribute meaningfully to Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP).

 
According to Iheme, inadequate electricity supply has become a nightmare to all of us in Aba.
“EEDC rations electricity here. Our factory runs on generator and we spend an average of N10,000, daily on diesel. And recently to help the big diesel engine we acquired a small petrol generator, but the problem now is that the capacity is low for our equipment, which has forced us to reduce our daily output,” he said.

 
BusinessDay investigation also revealed that some areas of the town had been disconnected from the national grid for between three to five years.

 
Mazi Jude Nwosu, managing director, Crunchies Fried Chicken Limited, a fast food firm, urged government to do more in the power sector, noting that the funds firms put into providing their own power, deplete their profits that would have been reinvested in the business to create employment.

 
To him, generating our own power and water, cuts our investable funds, because if we are to save these funds, we will be able to open more branches and for each branch we open, we employ about 50 people.

 
“Therefore, we urge the government to do more, by providing some of these much needed amenities that will help us do more. If we do more, we pay more taxes and government will have more funds to provide infrastructure to the people,” he said.