Ibom Power Plant MD blames epileptic power on TCN outdated electric cables

Akpan Umoh, Uyo

The Managing Director of Ibom Power Plant, Mr Meyen Etukudo, said the epileptic power supply in Akwa Ibom is caused by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) outdated electricity cables.

Etukudo said this during an interaction with newsmen in Uyo that the existing 191 Megawatt (MW) of the company was capable of providing steady electricity in the state but was thwarted by old and outdated TCN cables.

He added that the state government has been begging TCN since it is their exclusive responsibility, to come and change the lines but they have not shown up yet.

He said: “The only problem of Nigeria is willpower and in Akwa Ibom, it is the willpower of the present government that transformed the power sector.

“Ibom Power has 191 MW installed capacity a power that can carry the whole of this state without getting power from anywhere if its runs.

“As we are talking, we have an available capacity that is 153 MW which the whole of Akwa Ibom cannot still take but unfortunately, we are generating 74 to 78 and so on, because of operational limitations.

“The line (electric cables) from Aba in Abia to Itu in Akwa Ibom owned by TCN has not been reconductored and these are lines built in 1978. They are 150mm (aluminium conductor) and have not been changed since 1978.

“So, if you put load above 55MW on them now, it will trip-on over current. So, that is not the problem of Akwa Ibom State nor Ibom Power.”

Etukudo, who is the Senior Special Assistant to Gov. Udom Emmanuel said that the state comes first in the power sector when compared to others, adding that Akwa Ibom has invested a huge sum to actualise it.

He assured that before the end of the tenure of the present administration in the state, there would be a steady power supply across all villages.

“We have been appealing to TCN to come and do the job but they keep saying they will come and it is over eight years now.

“The governor, before the time he leaves office the whole of Akwa Ibom, all the villages supposed to be on the grid. The 2274 gazetted villages, I am talking about will be connected.

“So, there is no state government out of 36 that have put up such investment, building substation even a transmission substation like in Ekim 132/33KVA that the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, came and commissioned in 2020,” he said.

Etukudo appealed to TCN to heed the calls by the state government to come and upgrade all the worn-out cables to guarantee a steady power supply.