[Interview] Ukpor Electricity Challenge, By Maxwell Ujubuonu

Chief Maxwell Ujubuonu

In this exclusive interview by cfrmagazine, the CEO, MaxLinks Investment Company, Chief Maxwell Ujubuonu talked about the major challenge facing Ukpor as a town which is issue of electricity, the way forward and how he served as Ukpor Electricity Committee Chairman.

Read below:

Welcome to this segment Sir. May we know you. 

My name is Chief Hon. Ezinna Maxwell Ujubuonu(Ezeana Mgbeonyejinu) 

Tell us more about yourself Sir. 

I'm the first son of Chief Dennis Ujubuonu of the blessed memory, a civil engineering contractor. I'm married with seven kids, four boys and 3 girls. 

Obviously, you're from Ukpor in Anambra state, and there's a very big challenge facing the people of Ukpor and that's Electricity issue. As a matter of fact, Ukpor people have been experiencing a very poor or no electricity for years. Do you have any idea at all concerning that?

Well, the issue is this, in Ukpor, they don't recognize people who don't have too much money. They only recognize those who, by one way or the other, rose to higher position in civil service without using the position to make impact in Ukpor, but if you have the skills only without money, they won't recognize you.

During the time of John Ohakwe Okoli as the President General of UIU, I was appointed the Chairman of Ukpor Electricity Committee.....

Oh you were once an Ukpor electricity  Committee Chairman?

Yes, John Okoli appointed me the Chairman then, and when I came in, I met only 17 transformers in Ukpor. There was no light.

What year was that Sir?

Eerrrm! That should be between year 2000 to 2003 or thereabouts, I can't recall now. 

That means the issue didn't start today? 

Yes it started a long time ago, the light was always available that time but low voltage. The then UIU president gave me a mandate to identify the real problem behind the issue. I proceeded to Enugu and met the then CEO of Enugu electricity distribution, Chief Ossy Akamnonu from Arondizogu, but he directed me back to Nnewi business unit.

Back in Nnewi, I met the director, a Yoruba man and he told Egnr. Cosmas Omalu to go on a fact finding mission in other to determine the main reason why the voltage was always low. During our investigation, we found out that about 18 communities tapped light from Ukpor, and the 'Lasel feeder' that supplies light was not able to accommodate consumption from those communities which prompted us to separate it. They gave us approval from Enugu for the separation and the contract was awarded to Maxlinks investment company. According to the engineer, the reason they awarded the contract to my company was because, as an Indigenous company, if I fail to do the job, the community would hold me responsible. 

We successfully separated it by constructing a line through Ibeto Feeder to Amichi and disengaged communities like Osumenyi, Ezinifite and others. After that, the light issue was resolved and Ukpor started enjoying a steady electricity supply. That was what led the leadership of UIU to give me an award of recognition. 

During the same period, the issue of NIPP came up. I was still the Chairman of electricity committee when it was referred to me, I quickly invited a Surveyor, CY Igwe and we did a survey of Onye-Ukwu Umuogazi area with Egnr Hyacinth Ilechukwu who led them to Ukpor. After taking them to different places, the area was chosen and approval followed immediately for construction of a sub-station. 

Did you oversee the construction or was it later abandoned? 

No, no, no the construction of the substation was on after so many obstacles until the emergence of Col. Ogunna as the UIU Chairman. I contested election that year but was removed as the Chairman of electricity committee because they said I was using my achievements for campaign.

The electricity committee chairman was later given to one Mr. Arinze who claimed to be an engineer, and that was when another round of problem started because they couldn't continue from where I stopped. 

But before then, I was able to get the number of houses with electricity in Ukpor and we agreed that each 4 bedroom and 8 bedroom bungalow would be paying N500 and N1000 respectively per month .

With this amount, we could've been meeting up with a monthly target the electricity company gave entire Ukpor, which was N800,000 then. They equally gave Nnewi a target of N30m. I got approval from Enugu for this development but everything ended the moment they connived and removed me as the Chairman. My secretary then was Sir Paul Mmadu. He's still alive today, you can go and ask him. They didn't even consult me for directions on how to continue with it and that's how it remained till today. 

Before the energy gets to Nnewi from Ojoto feeder, it drops to 7.5 mega watts. Nnewi is using about 6.9 mega watts and they're meeting up with their monthly target,  so the only way to keep Nnewi is to shut down Ukpor because we're not meeting up with the monthly target. I even planned how to connect from Ozubulu through Obosi feeder but they removed me. Recently Engr Uzor duped some part of Umunuko and they reconnected from there but it didn't even last because he didn't do the right thing. They told him to include me but he refused. He didn't tell them the truth. You don't discuss the issue of electricity with the community, you do that with the authority involve.   

Sir, are you saying that if they didn't remove you as Ukpor electricity committee chairman, the issue would have been long forgotten? 

Obviously! Say it anywhere, we're still talking about this today because of my removal. If not,  by now the issue of debt wouldn't have been there.

So what's the way forward? 

Well, I know the way forward, they should come and consult me if they want to deal with the issue once and for all. I was already doing the job perfectly before they ganged up and removed me. Running to Emeka Offor will not solve the problem because this is someone's business we're talking about here. If they really want to solve the Ukpor electricity problem permanently, then it's beyond what they're doing now. Thank you. 

Sir, people always say that your company once constructed a road that passed through your house but it didn't last longer because you used substandard materials for the job. What do you have to say about such allegation?

You see, some of these guys making such slandering insinuations are naive and ignorant of what they are talking about. The company that did the project was Obodoeze Construction Company, a subsidiary of Ambiz Group of Companies through Anambra-Imo-River Basin Development Authority to the tune of N230m or thereabouts when my sister, Oby was a Minister.  It was an erosion control project not a road construction. The record is there for everyone to see. The lie was carefully propagated by some overzealous political neophytes who saw that as an opportunity to tarnish my image. The main job was done at erosion site behind the house of the immediate past Chairman of Nnewi South, Hon. Ossy Iyiegbu. The road is just an access road to the erosion site. If you watch closely, you'll see that the drainage on that road was superb.

I was even at my Abuja office when all these things were happening. I only got involved when they wanted to divert the contract to Osumenyi. It's a long story anyway. So my company didn't do the road as some ignorantly said. I was just there as a community leader making sure there was no problem between the community and the company. Thank you. 

Thank you very much for your time and we hope you'll grant us such opportunity next time. 

Of course! I will.