A scene of mild drama unfolded in the Diobu area of Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, on Tuesday, as a group of women marched to the offices of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company.
According to Daily Trust, their protest centered on what they described as their inability to engage in intimate relations with their husbands due to the intense heat caused by power outages.
Brandishing placards bearing slogans such as ‘No Light, No Payment’ and ‘The Heat is Too Much’, the women voiced their grievances over the severe hardships they were enduring.
They expressed frustration that their spouses refrained from physical contact during the night due to the oppressive heat, lamenting the challenges of preserving perishable foods and the adverse effects on their businesses caused by the erratic power supply.
Maria Ike, the leader of the protesting women, emphasized the need to highlight their plight and hold PHED accountable for the dire situation.
She decried the abysmal power supply in their locality despite regular payment of monthly bills to PHED, citing the detrimental impact on familial relationships and livelihoods.
“We have decided to let the world know what we are passing through in the hands of PHED. The poor supply in our area is at zero level despite the fact that we pay monthly bills to PHED. We no longer have romance and conjugal relationship with our husbands because of so much heat due to power failure. Our businesses have collapsed because of power outage. This is really affecting our families,” she said.
Responding to inquiries, PHED Public Relations Officer Livingstone Koko acknowledged the widespread issue of poor power supply across the nation.
He assured that PHED was striving to enhance the electricity distribution system in the state, albeit acknowledging the broader systemic challenges facing the power sector.
