Distribution Planning Strategy: An Instrument for Improving Power Challenges for Sustainable Development in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State

Abstract

The study examined power distribution planning strategy for improving power distribution in Rivers state using Port Harcourt City Local Government Area as case Studies. One research question and two hypotheses were raised and formulated respectively to guide the study. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population for the study was 137; which comprised 42 and 95 members of National Union of Electricity Employees Rivers state chapter with 0 years to 10 years of employment and 11 years and above respectively. The entire population was used for the study since it was not too large and is manageable. A 7 items structured questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection and the items were based on four – point rating scale. The instrument was validated by three experts from the department of technical education of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education Ndele campus, Rivers state. Cronbach Alpha method was used to establish the reliability of the instrument; which yielded reliability coefficient of .78. Data was analyzed using means and standard deviation for answering the research questions while hypotheses were tested using z – test at the alpha level of .05 significance. The study revealed that power distribution strategic planning such as environmental scanning, stakeholders' brainstorming, international analysis and syntheses, documentation among others were strategies for improving power distribution in Rivers state. It recommended among other things that power distribution strategic planning should be adopted for power distribution improvement.