Inhabitants of Inikorogha and Azama federated communities in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, have lamented incessant blackout due to what they describe as "abandonment" of a gas turbine project that is operated by the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), in the riverine communities.

Chief Steady Ebiyai, the Amadiwei of Inikorogha community, raised the alarm after an inspection tour of the project facility over the weekend during a ceremony that held in the community.

The tour around the site of the project facility, which houses a generator and a cooling system among others, has been overtaken by weeds, making accessibility quite difficult. Even the walkway constructed to access the project has began to collapse.

Chief Ebiyai lamented that the problem of blackout began when the community's diesel power supply was converted to a gas turbine to enable uninterrupted power supply, an objective he stated has not been achieved, but has instead made life difficult for inhabitants of the communities.

"We have a gas turbine project here. The one we first had was a diesel supply generator, but after some time they converted it to gas turbine," he said, and then added, "Most of the time they will just come and service the generator, run it for, say, one month, and then it will go off for like one year," he explained 

The Amadiwei blamed the NGC for its failure to engage local contractor to help manage the project as one of the reasons for the inefficiency of the gas turbine project, accusing the company of closing doors against dialoguing on the issue after the community made several attempts on that.

"The gas turbine they did here, the way we discussed with them, for some years they will hand over the contract to a community contractor so that the contractor will handle the contract to make sure that these two communities are supplied by light. But ever since then, it's over three years now, this turbine was here and we cannot even get access to talk to the company and nobody is talking to us.

"There's no way they (NGC) will come to the community to discuss and come to a compromise, that, let us do this thing in a way that the community can enjoy the light. If a company give the project to the community, that is where the people will enjoy the company. But these people (NGC) are very stubborn; they will not even allow you to enter the gate to lay your complaints inside the company," he lamented.

Speaking further he said, "So, for now, as i'm talking to you, the communities are in blackout for more than six months now. If the NGC is operating, this place will not be bushy like this. Everywhere is bushy. You cannot even get access to the generator house, which is risky," he added.

Chief Ebiyai therefore called on the management of the NGC and the NNPCL to swing into action and that the relevant authorities, including the state government, should also intervene to address the problem to avoid disruption. 

"We cannot be host to oil and gas companies, contributing so much to the revenue of the government and the energy needs of others, but wallowing in darkness. And so we call on the NGC to immediately look for a final solution as well as restore electricity, and to the government to do the needful now that there is calmness," he pleased.

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