By Peter Duru, Makurdi

Members of the Welders and Steel Workers Union, Benue State branch have lamented over the unending power outage in the state saying that the development is gradually killing their businesses.

Provost of the union, Mr. Jamiu Ikpaye told Vanguard in Makurdi that his members were struggling to survive “because everything we do is dependent on efficient power supply. Every of our working tool can only be operated with power.

“And since this unending power failure most of our members have remained redundant because we cannot even resort to petrol and diesel.

“It is not sustainable because apart from the high cost, we cannot resort to generators for a long period of time since most of our tools are heavy duty equipment.

“It will also require that we spend much to maintain the generators after some hours because of the nature of the machines we use.

“It means that we are left to spend close to N500,000 weekly to remain in business and it is not only unsustainable but business killing. That is how bad the power outage is affecting our businesses.

“Outside that, we also have the issue of high bills even when we do not have supply. We pay for supply that we do not see. Our cries and complains are never attended to.

“The government has to do something urgently to address the power supply situation in the country because apart from Welders several other businesses that depend on steady power supply can barely survive and it is killing the economy of Benue state.

“In the state after farmers and civil servants, artisans are in control of large portion of the economy of the state and without steady power supply, the economy of the state would suffer distress and that is what we are experiencing presently.”