Akwa Ibom threatens to dump PHED, slams FG

Akwa Ibom State Government on Wednesday said it would pull out of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company as soon as it establishes it own electricity transmission company.

Governor Udom Emmanuel stated this at a press conference in Uyo.

He said the state had invested so much in PHED by building sub-power stations, injection stations and providing other electricity facilities without getting a commensurate value in terms of power supply.

Emmanuel accused the Federal Government of not paying the state for the power it was generating and supplying to the national grid, adding that the Ibom Power Company had been supplying 115 megawatts of power to the national grid.

The governor said, “Akwa Ibom State is one state that has invested in power than even what the Federal Government has put into any state. There are some areas in the state that we generate electricity that can go round everybody.

“We generate 115 megawatts and the Federal Government is not even paying us for what we are giving to the national grid. It does not make sense. I told Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo when he came here that we are going to do something drastic about it.

“We are going to check how to do our transmission and we are going to set up our own transmission company. I pay a lot of money generating power, we have enough electricity but PHED just decides not to give us light.

“When I ask, they tell me a lot of people in the villages are not paying for electricity. What about the assets I provide? I have not even been given credit for that. I invest so much and I get so little.”

The only way to solve that is to get our own transmission company and get ourselves out of PHED. We are working seriously on that.”