Businesses in Calabar have continued to suffer intense pressure and setbacks following a power outage in the city for seven days.
It was gathered that the situation was due to a fire that occurred on Sept 3 at the 13233 KV Substation in Adiabo Calabar.
General Manager Public Affairs, Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, Ms Ndidi Mbah, had on September 4 issued a statement assuring residents of the city of the company s ongoing effort to restore power.
The statement stated that TCN engineers were replacing the affected equipment to ensure the restoration of power to the city by September 5.
TheNewGuru.com reports that till September 9 the city was still in darkness with no hope in sight.
According to a bank official, who pleaded anonymity, “the bank and others had shortened the operation period due to poor power supply and the high cost of diesel. A lot of people may criticize banks but you need to know what they go through daily to ensure service provision.
“They run virtually on diesel and do you know how much a litre of diesel costs today, not to talk of other operational expenses? Poor power supply has made doing business difficult in this city.”
Similarly, Madam Affiong Okon, a cold room operator, said her business was declining because power was needed to ensure that all the items in the cold room remained fresh.
“This is painful because few months ago there was no power in the whole of Calabar for a long time due to one problem or the other. I am still imagining how I survived it. Today, another one has started.
“To make matters worse, they are going round to share bills as we speak, even though there is no light in the whole of Calabar. Are these people not telling us to lose our minds and become violent one day,” she said angrily.
Calabar and its environs had suffered total blackout between April 8 and May 16.
TheNewsGuru.com gathered that it was due to vandalism of a tower in Itu that evacuated power from Ikot Ekpene Power Plant to the Adiabo plant in Calabar.