Blackout: Our husbands don’t touch us at night — Rivers women

Some women in Rivers State on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest at the office of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company(PHED) over prolonged power outage.

The women barricaded the PHED office near the Isaac Boro Park in Port Harcourt, claiming their husbands barely have time with them at night due to intense heat occasioned by power outage.

They carried placards with inscriptions “PHED help us to sleep well with our husbands”, “lack romance with our husbands”, “Our husbands no longer touch us at night”, “No light no payment”, “The heat is too much,” among others.

The women claimed they also find it difficult to preserve cooked foods, pointing out that their business has been grounded due to poor power supply by PHED.

According to them, the areas mostly affected are Dim, Wokama, Azikiwe, and Ojoto areas in Port Harcourt.

One of the women who simply gave her name as Angela said, “This lack of light (electricity) is making our soup sour. Even when our husbands want to make love to us, the heat will not allow it. We are worried.”

Complaining, another protester stated: “This protest is for PHED to give us light. We are paying bills but not seeing the light. Our pot of soup getting bad, and even having sex with our husbands is a problem because of heat.

“Last night, my husband wanted to have fun with me but the heat was too much, we could not do anything. So PHED should give us light or else we will not pay the bill for this month.”

In his reaction, the Public Relations Officer of PEHD, Livingstone Koko, said the current power situation was beyond the control of the company, saying it is a value change issue.