As the ongoing electricity blackout enters its fifth month in Bayelsa State, businesses and residents have decried the situation, saying that life and businesses are under siege.

The situation has brought untold hardship to residents, who have to rely on generating sets to fuel their homes and businesses and with the current cost of fuel, they say they can no longer afford to feed and buy fuel at the same time.

Residents in Bayelsa have been without electricity since June, following the destruction of 13 out of 16 transmission towers along the Ahoada-Yenagoa 132kV transmission line by vandals.

Chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Kaduna South-East, Raymond Anyanwu, said the blackout situation is beyond terrible with many factors combining to frustrate manufacturing and private enterprise.

“This is a phenomenal challenge for us and it is worse for our members who use boilers which use a lot of energy. Some particular production processes use a lot of energy and if they must rely on providing their energy through generators, they cannot supply the market at a competitive price. TCN is saying vandals, which are non-state actors, destroyed the stations, so are they saying those non-state actors are bigger than the government?”

He said they have reached out to the state electricity agency many times and were told it is out of their control as it is a national issue. “All we want is a solution because we have lost billions of naira to this blackout; the loss is enormous. Some have even stopped production currently because they cannot cope with the cost of alternative energy.”

Executive Secretary, Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Eke Ubiji, lamented that their current loss is in billions of Naira. “Do you know what it means for a manufacturer not to produce anything in over a week not because they don’t want to but because there is no power to produce? A lot of our members use perishable items to produce, and all those have gone down the drain, costing them billions of Naira, coupled with the loss of revenue. Nobody is going to reimburse them for this heavy loss.

This is part of the reasons businesses are going down daily, there are too many challenges we have to deal with,” he lamented.

President, Association of Small Business Owners in Nigeria (ASBON), Femi Egbesola, lamented that businesses in those regions have been adversely affected by the ongoing electricity blackout for weeks and months respectively. “It has significantly raised the cost of doing business, particularly with the very high cost of alternatives such as generators and fuels. It has crippled many businesses, increase insecurity, making running businesses unsafe in some areas.

“This negative impact has led to widespread economic disruption and loss of livelihoods across the northern region of the country, resulting in heavy economic disruptions and loss of livelihood. The most unfortunate side of it all is that there is no clear timeline for the restoration of full power. Many businesses have shut down at the moment. We appeal to the government to give this issue more than the usual attention and save our businesses from dying,” he said.

Speaking with The Guardian, Joseph Jones, an entrepreneur in Bayelsa, lamented the situation which he said is entering its fifth month now. Decrying that economic activities in the state are at a complete standstill, he said a litre of fuel goes for N1,500 in the state and many businesses which were already struggling to begin with, have packed up as a result.

“The situation is life-threatening now as hospitals and essential services have closed down. How can a whole state not have power for over four months and the governor and those in charge are not bothered? We cannot feed and buy fuel at the same time so most people have abandoned their businesses. I am close to abandoning the business myself because I am running at practically a loss but I am afraid of sitting down at home. We need light restored to this state to not just save businesses but save lives, people are dying,” he said.