Recreation centre business owners complain over epileptic power supply

anwar danjaji

April 6, 2017 3:20 PM

The operators said because of the shortage in power supply, business owners had been forced to seek alternative sources of energy.

Power lines under construction

Some recreation centre owners in Abuja have blamed inadequate power supply for poor patronage of their facilities.

In interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday, the operators said because of the shortage in power supply, business owners had been forced to seek alternative sources of energy.

Mr Noel Keyen, the Chief Executive Officer of Asset Garden and Resort Garki II, said the challenge of power shortage had been a recurring decimal for business in Abuja.

He said that the inadequacy in supply had affected prices of commodities with increments of N30 or N50 for some drinks.

“It has affected our business now that the weather is getting hotter, people will always want to get cool drinks and with the result of that we are subjected to use generator.

“We spend more on our generators, not just in fuelling but the cost of maintenance also goes up, so it has become a very expensive venture.

“We also try to keep our prices stable but sometimes we have no choice but to increase some of our costs for drinks slightly.''

Ahmodu Otailu, the General Manager of Skychef Park and Gardens, Garki II, also said that the power shortage had affected his business and that it was economically wise to run a generator than buying ice block.

“It has seriously affected our business in the sense that we spend a lot of money in buying diesel to run our generators, and you know it is very expensive with the new increment in fuel price.

“It is better for me to run the generator because it is more expensive to buy ice block , some of them are not blocked inside, so economically it is wiser to run your generator.

“I have been running my generator since morning. I had to switch off now because I would not know what would happen in the evening, so the little profit we make we end up using to buy diesel.

“Actually, we do not increase our prices so as not to drive our customers away because we need them,’’ he said.

Another respondent, who asked not to be identified, said that the epileptic power supply had reduced patronage in his business since he had to depend on ice block to cool drinks.

He said that some customers were discouraged from buying drinks if they were not cool.

anwar danjaji