Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Bassey, has sacked Engr. Meyen Etukudoh as the Managing Director of Ibom Power Company Limited.

The letter announcing the Ibom Power boss’ sack emerged four hours after Etukudoh’s public declaration of Savannah Energy as the reason behind the statewide blackout.

The statement by Ibom Power, dated November 14, 2024 had explained that the blackout was triggered by Savannah Energy’s decision to cut off gas supply to the plant.

The company claimed that Savannah Energy’s actions sabotaged their efforts to provide electricity to the state.

“It is noteworthy that during incidents of national grid collapses that have caused nationwide outages more than 12 times this year alone, Akwa Ibom State was exempted from the nationwide outages because Ibom power plant continued to supply the state on Island mode.

“Regrettably, our gas supplier, Savannah Energy recently sabotaged the laudable effort of lbom Power by cutting off gas supply to the Ibom power plant. This loss of gas supply coincided with a reported fault on the 132V Itu-Aba Transmission Line, which transports power from the national grid in and out of the state, hence the state-wide outage”, the statement added.

But in a swift reaction, Governor Eno in a letter signed by the Secretary to State Government and dated November 14, 2024 announced that he has relieved Etukudoh of his appointment with immediate effect.

The letter based the governor’s decision “As part of the ongoing restructuring exercise of this administration, to align with the machinery of government in the power sector to the ARISE agenda.

The letter directed Etukudoh to handover to the Commissioner for Power, who will oversee the company till further notice.

The sacked energy company boss had recently appeared before the state House of Assembly Committee on Power, where he made a case for a turnaround upgrade of the state power plant for optimal performance.

The lawmakers had during the meeting, raised concerns over the power company’s inability to contribute to internally generated revenue of the state, and for taking foreign loans without the approval of the House.