TELL Magazine

The Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, has berated the Nigera Gas Marketing Company for alleged sabotage of the services of the Ossiomo Power Plant which operations are being hampered by inconsistent gas supply.

The NUJ called on the Federal Government, the national security institutions, the state government, and all other relevant stakeholders to call the gas company to order to avert unrest in the state .

In a statement in Benin on Thursday following blackout in all establishments, ministries, and institutions being serviced by Ossiomo Power Plant, the state NUJ Chairman, Festus Alenkhe, called for respite from NGMC to customers.

Alenkhe lamented that electricity supply had been epileptic since May 2022 when the Gas Company forcefully took over the gas plant that was built by Ossiomo Power at its site at the Ossiomo Industrial Plant, Ologbo, Edo State.

Accordingto the NUJ chairman, “By this action they are disrupting the flow of gas to power the plant and thus sabotaging the services of Ossiomo to its customers.

“All journalists in Edo State are directly affected by this unpatriotic action of the NGMC because the NUJ is a commercial customer of Ossiomo Power because they supply power to the NUJ Secretariat, enhancing the productivity of all journalists in Edo State.

“We want to note that the action of the NGMC in Edo State is similar to what Kogi State is doing to Dangote’s Obajana Cement Plant; killing business, discouraging the private sector, and undermining national security because numerous customers of Ossiomo Power cannot understand why NGMC will be so bent on stopping the regular supply of power which they have become accustomed to.”

Alenkhe warned that NGMC’s action “may lead to unrest in Edo communities at this time when the country is in a transitory process with the general elections scheduled for February next year.”