Business owners in Abuja have decried the continuous power outage caused by frequent collapse national grid.
In a separate interview on Saturday in Abuja, they said the situation was not only causing discomfort but crippling economic activities.
Mr Alozie Agu, a business owner said the inconsistent power supply to homes and business areas was too much discomfort, especially economic challenges and increase in fuel price.
He added that consistent power outages may cause small businesses to fold up and that some businesses that needed constant power might no longer function properly.
Mr Agu said, “While some may get it for an hour or more, some areas do not even get it for a day or two. Some areas get it for just a few minutes, and it is gone, and this is not good, especially for those in the commercial areas where stores with frozen foods, blocks and the rest are sold.
“They require power to process and store these produce. It was not like this last year; at least there was an improvement from the power company, but since this year, everything seems different, and if it continues like this, it may cripple businesses,” he said.
Mr Alozie urged the Federal Government to address the frequent collapse of the national grid and also tackle epileptic power supply in the nation’s seat of power.
Another Abuja resident, Segun Samuel, a business owner in Karu, said that it was unfortunate that the situation is happening amid the high fuel cost.
He said this had cost many business owners their losses as some could not afford to switch to their generator sets, while those who could hike their prices.
“This recent power outage slowed down my business because, some days ago, everyone wanted cold drinks in large quantities, and I didn’t have any to sell.
“If I have to buy fuel to power my generator, I may have to increase the price of drinks, and people may not buy much because not many can afford it,” he said.
He added, “It is unfortunate that now that we are on a prepaid metre, we don’t get light constantly like before, and we need it for our businesses.
“I won’t make a profit if this continues. I am not happy at all. There is no light at home or in my shop. It’s disheartening.”
Another resident, Ayobami Ademola, a businessman, also said the government needed to put more effort into providing a better power supply, especially given the incessant hike in power tariffs.
“For the whole of yesterday, I could not do anything in my office because of this power outage. I work in a cyber cafe, and this power outage really affected us yesterday,” Mr Ademola explained.
“With light, our customers have access to all our computers, but with the generator, we can only use three or four because that’s the much it can carry, so yesterday, we didn’t make much profit,” he said, adding that, “Since the days of our forefathers, power has always been an issue in this country, even making other African countries make fun of us for our inconsistent power generation.
“The government should do something about this, it is not about increasing tariffs every time; at least let us see what we are paying for, and then we will not grumble if it increases again.
“I even came to work wearing rumpled clothes today, which is not nice,” he concluded.
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