Industrialists decry incessant power outages as firms fold up

—Worried that major manufacturing companies are fast closing down, industrialists in Nnewi have called on the Federal Government to provide them with regular power supply.
Spokesman for the group, Dr Chika Okafor made the appeal while addressing journalists in his Nnewi office on the problems faced by manufacturing companies in the area and other parts of the country.
“Our problem is power. We run our factories on diesel on daily basis. Last year, my company spent more than N1million on diesel to be afloat on production. There is no gainsaying the fact that we contribute immensely to the economic development of this country. Government at all levels should encourage manufacturers.”
He said most manufacturing companies in Nnewi have closed down because of lack of electricity.
Okafor said because of the problem, he contemplated retrenching some of his workers but he decided against it because if they are thrown into the labour market, their dependants and society would be affected.
“Most of the manufacturing companies in Nnewi have collapsed because of lack of power supply and because they could not cope with diesel to run their factories on daily basis.”
However, Okafor praised the Anambra state governor, Chief Willie Obiano for providing adequate security in the state, a development he said has pulled investors to invest in the state.
It will be recalled that the former military head of state, Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar last Saturday visited the Chikason Group of companies limited, Nnewi among other major manufacturing industries in the area when he commissioned 'The Nnewi Hotel and Event Centre.'