Another fire outbreak yesterday gutted an electric power station at Afaha Ubeh in the outskirt of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, same day that fire razed over 600 shops in Bida market, Niger state.
Eye Witness account said operatives of the state fire service were not seen around the scene of the incident, as the facility was on flame for more than three hours before the arrival of firefighters from the construction giant, Julius Berger.
“The community people were angry with the state fire service and initially prevented them from getting to the scene of the incident. But they were eventually allowed to join forces with Julius Berger to put off the fire,” he said.
The Akwa Ibom State government said in a statement that the incident was going to cause power outage in parts of the state because of “substantial damage” done to the facility.
The statement issued by the Commissioner for Information, Charles Udoh, said the government had asked the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, to speed up the repairs of the facility in order “to avoid a prolonged distortion of socio-economic activities in the (affected) areas”.
Reports said that most parts of Uyo, including the popularly Ewet Housing Estate where Governor Udom Emmanuel’s private house is located, have been in darkness for almost a day now.
It was however not reported whether the situation is connected to the fire incident at the power station.
