By Correspondent in Lokoja.
Power outage has hit Lord Lugard Street named after Lord Frederick John Dealtry Lugard (1858-1945), Governor-General of Nigeria during colonial era and noted for beehive of social and commercial activities, especially in the night in Lokoja, kogi state capital.
The Reporters recalls that Lokoja was once the capital of Nigeria during colonial time.
Our Correspondent reports that the street and its environs, covering barely 500-metre,is a thoroughfare lane is also a home to the Nigeria Union of Journalists,(NUJ),Kogi State Council Secretariat, the Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association(NBA), courts and a wide range of business outfits.
The commercial-oriented concerns are: Beer parlours, restaurant, pharmaceutical, barbing saloons, business centre, Plazas, fashion designer and other petty commercial outfits.
As the power outage entered two weeks on Wednesday, residents and traders have pleaded with the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company,AEDC,to restore electricity to the are.
The Chairman of the Association Of Bar and Restaurant Owners, Solomon Atabo, in a release, expreeesed concern that the blackout had adversely affected social and economic activities in the areas with the attendant plunge in profits and other inconveniences.
He said he and other operators of various business outfits had to rely mainly on their generating set with the attendant cost of fuelling it.
“We have been running our businesses at a loss for the past two weeks.
“The worst thing is that,customers have refused to understand the slight increase in cost, they will not come back the next day.
“We therefore call the attention of the management of AEDC to kindly repair the transformer and stem the tide of criminality’.
“We also appeal to Kogi state Government to please intervene, to ensure that normal power is restored, as strategic offices like Kogi NUJ Secretariat, NBA Secretariat, National Museum, Kogi state Hotel and Tourism Magistrate and High Court are been affected by the blackout,” he said.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
