Over 400 tailors doing business in various parts of Aba, Abia State have accused the management of Aba Power Ltd, a subsidiary of Geometric Power Company of allegedly using men of Nigerian Army and Nigerian Police to intimidate them, in the name of bills collection. The tailors alleged that the power distribution company was also killing their businesses with outrageous bills and poor electricity supply.
According to them, APL was issuing each consumer monthly bills ranging from N15,000 to over N18,000 per month, even when they consumed less units.
Speaking to the press during the protest the leader of the tailors, Comrade Ugochukwu Iheme said many of his members may be forced out of business if they were continuously forced to continue with exorbitant bills payment. Iheme who accused the APL of engaging the services of Army and Police officers in distribution and collection of bills, said they were living and operating under regular harassment by the security agencies, on the alleged order of the APL.
The tailors who operated under the aegis of Abia Tailors Association, begged the Abia State government to save them from economic challenges by directing the APL to stop their members. But responding, Abia State Commissioner for Trade, Commerce and Industry, Dr Chimezie Ukaegbu said the matter had not been reported to his office yet.
But the Commissioner promised to look into the tailors’ protest if properly briefed. However, the Chief Commercial Officer of Aba Power Ltd, Blessing Ogbe denied the tailors’ allegations, saying that the tailors were only billed based on what they consumed.
The Chief Commercial Officer explained that tailors’ industrial cluster in Aba were fitted with meters which recorded any unit of electricity consumed by customers and therefore, could not have been short-changed. The company further advised the tailors and other electricity consumers to pay their bills as the power distribution company is in Aba for business.
