The sudden hike in price of fuel and the prolonged blackout in Akwa Ibom State is taking a toll on the people, especially business owners. Livelihood and socio-economic activities in the oil rich state are at lowest ebb, yet remedy is not in sight. DAILY POST reports that the residents, while battling to come to terms with the outrageous fuel pump price of N1,300 with its attendant hardship, were hit with a blackout which has lasted for almost three weeks, crippling businesses. A short distance initially charged for N100 by tricyclists is now N200, a cold sachet water sold at two for N50.00 (Fifty Naira) is now N100. Same goes with photocopying of materials which was formally N50.00 a page, but now N100.00 A resident of Afaha Ube, in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, identified as Chimaobi, who sells Ice blocks, narrated how his business has been grounded since the blackout as he can’t afford to buy fuel at N1,300 a litre to power his generator for the business. “For over two weeks now, I have not done anything because of this issue of light. “I can’t buy fuel at N1250 or N1300 to power my generator, because at the end of the day. I’ll run at a loss,” he said. Households also have their sad tales about the outage as most of the women interviewed in the report have one thing in common, “they are unable to cook in large quantities to preserve in the fridge.” However, the Portharcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHDC, in a statement, weekend, attributed the current power outage to a line fault on the Aba-Itu 132kv line. The statement assured that power would be restored as soon as possible as the relevant team was working to that effect, urging residents to be more patient. DAILY POST reports that Akwa Ibom State receives electricity from three sources: the national grid through the Aba–Itu 132kV transmission line, the Itu–Adiabo (Calabar) transmission line, and the state-owned Ibom Power Plant. According to an insider source in Ibom Power, the Itu–Adiabo line from Calabar was vandalised some years ago, leaving the old Aba–Itu transmission line as the only source of grid power supply into the state, in addition to the generation from Ibom Power. The source said the frequent faults on the Aba–Itu line occurred because the line was old and needed reconductoring. The Aba-Itu line was built decades ago and now has limited capacity. “Unfortunately, work cannot commence on the line because the Itu–Adiabo line is still unavailable due to vandalism. “If work begins on the Aba–Itu line now, Akwa Ibom will have no source of grid electricity supply at all. “The long-term solution is to first rehabilitate the Itu–Adiabo line to ensure the state will still have at least one source of grid power supply before work begins on the Aba–Itu line,” he said. He added that, “An immediate solution is to begin the work on the Aba-Itu line. “Since TCN says the reconductoring of the Aba–Itu line would take about three (3) months, during this period, if Ibom Power has a steady gas supply, it can generate electricity and supply the state, while the Aba-Itu line is being repaired. “Under this arrangement, Akwa Ibom would depend entirely on Ibom Power for those three months, because the Aba–Itu line would be under repair and the Itu–Adiabo line is unavailable,” he said. Meanwhile, TCN has raised concerns about frequent vandalism on the Ikot Abasi–Eket transmission line, which evacuates Ibom Power’s output. According to TCN, when the Ikot Abasi–Eket line was vandalised in November last year, the Managing Director of Ibom Power, Engr. Camillus Umoh had to intervene to ensure it was quickly restored. TCN further revealed that some transmission projects in the state were abandoned due to youth unrest and community demands for compensation. It called for the support of the Akwa Ibom State government, as the ‘Landlord’, to educate residents on the importance of protecting electricity infrastructure.