Crisis Rocks Ibom Power Company

… Ikot Abasi in black out
…mass protest looms

Paulinus Nta, Uyo

Few days to the end of Udom Emmanuel’s led administration, Ibom Power Company, a signature project of Obong Victor Attah’s administration, is marching gloriously backwards, following alleged paucity of workers’ salaries and harsh working conditions.

Our reporter, who has monitored developments in the company, gathered that workers sparingly stroll to the plant once or twice a week, a development that has not only thrown the one-time bubbling city to a dungeon but has further crippled economic activities in the first capital city of Nigeria.
A management staff, who did not want to be named, hinted this paper that the management of IPC remitted 2 billion, out of the 2.6 billion naira, generated from sales of power, to the state government, and that a patriotic whistle blower whispered to the governor, and the infuriated governor withheld his approval for the company’s allocations, part of which was to be workers salaries.
Another staff from the operation and maintenance department, believed the remaining money must have been kept by the management, to offset outstanding challenges, including staff salaries and other packages. He however agreed that the development has reduced the former Aluminium city to a caricature and a skeleton of it’s former self. He recalled with nostalgia, that Ikot Abasi was an industrial hub and a tourist destination in the 1990s, during the military regime, but grieved with pains that the return of democracy collapsed the economy of the place, with ‘rascals in power!
According to him, the only institution that injects a remnant of life in Ikot Abasi, is Ibom Power Company, which was established by Obong Attah’s administration.
”Out of the three turbines that supply power, the GT3 is not working; GT1 is not working, only the GT2 is crawling to work at a very slow pace of function” he grumbled.
Recall, angry youths in the community, in 2021, staged a 29 day, wild protest, venting their disappointment as the state government as the state government failed to fulfill their electioneering campaign promises to the area. They decried years of blackout, non employment of their youths into management Cader, no sustainable empowerment and no government presence in the area.
And in a bid to douse tension and calm frayed nerves, the state government, ”tricked” them with a salivating promised to erect a power sub-station in Ikot Abasi, to address incessant cases of power outage as well as create jobs for the battalion of unemployed youths.
Regrettably, with less than two weeks to the end of this ‘miserable’ tenure, non of those promises have been made. Not even attempt!
Others who spoke with our reporter lambasted political leaders from the area for not living up to expectation.
Ephraim Etuk, a worker in the company described the management of IPC as slave masters, who do not allow them to have their union, so they can continue to enslave them. He said the workers and youths from the five clans of the local government have perfected plans to stage a hostile protest before the swearing in of the new government and that they will hold a world press conference and expose the collosal leadership failure of the present government.
When contacted for the management’s reactions to the report, Public Relations Officer, Micheal Dada did not deny any of the allegations, but said he was not permitted to talk to the press on the matter.
However, when contacted on phone, Managing Director of the company, Engr. Meyen Etukudo laughed at the report and described it as laughable. He said the state government has no business with the salaries of workers of Ibom Power Company.
According to him, salaries of the workers come from regulatory bodies and other national agencies, not Akwa Ibom state government.
His words,” Many people work in IPC, even up to ten years without knowing where their salaries come from. They are ignorant!