POWER OUTAGE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ON VALUE CHAIN ALONG ABA AND ITU NATIONAL GRID OF UYO AND EKET METROPOLITAN CITIES IN AKWA IBOM STATE

The study was set to tackle and proffer solution to the recurrent power outages usually witnessed along Aba and Itu National Grid that threw the entire Uyo and Eket metropolitan cities and their environs into total blackout thereby, impacting gross negative implications on the socio-economic development of the entire areas. Two theories were adopted to frame the study, namely: The Fluid Theories of Electricity and the Porter's Value Chain Theory. The methodology used in this research was the Descriptive Survey design. The population consisted of 1,329,000 PHED customers who are indigenes and occupants of the Uyo and Eket metropolitan cities. The methods of enquiry included the primary and secondary methods of data collection. Three subsidiary objectives were set, among others, was to find the implications of value chain on small and medium scale businesses in Uyo and Eket metropolis. A well-developed Likert-type scale was used for data collection. The data collected were analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics of frequency count and percentage tables. The hypothesis was tested using the inferential statistics of Chi-square (x2) at 0.05 level of significance. The results obtained showed that, there are gross negative implications of value chain on small and medium scale businesses as well as individuals in Uyo and Eket metropolis. The three recommendations based on the foregoing, were also put forward to resolve the issues found in the study. Among them was that, the Federal Government should accept the fact that there are gross negative implications of value chain on small and medium scale businesses as well as individuals in Uyo and Eket metropolis due to the incessant and recurrent power outages on the Aba and Itu National Grid. As such, federal government should equip and provide favorable conditions that would enable PHED to carry out effective and efficient service delivery to the people