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From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholo has vowed to break the monopolistic tendencies of the Benin Electricity Distribution Plc (BEDC) to ensure fair and even distribution of power to residents of the state.
He disclosed this when he made a stopover at the take-off point of the “mass action against BEDC oppressions” protest organised by the “Organised Edo Against BEDC Oppressions” at the Benin City Museum.
Governor Okpebholo said that if more players are allowed into the business of power distribution, similar to the telecommunications sector, it would ensure greater efficiency as all operators would strive to put in their best to serve customers better.
“I want to let you know that the only way we can fight them is to bring stakeholders into this business of distribution.
“I want to let you know we’ll break the monopoly.
“That monopoly does not belong to one man. So, how do we do it? We have to operate in the way telecom operates, bringing in different stakeholders and bringing in different companies.
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“We are going to have a meeting in my office tomorrow. We are bringing stakeholders together so that we can talk, engage them and see how we can bring in more investors into the business of light distribution. So when that one is done, all of us in the state will have enough light,” Okpebholo said.
Okpebholo, who said he had come to join in the BEDC protest, admitted that everyone in the state was being short-changed by the company and that such a situation must not be allowed to continue.
“I was trying to find out what the issues are, and I was told that you people are protesting. I said, ‘Yes, we are all youth.’ Is that not so? Are we not? I have come to join you on the protest.
“When we are talking about short-changing Edo people, it’s all of us. My father in the village, your mother in the village, my brother in the city, all of us who are standing here. Is that not so?” he asked rhetorically.
He told the protesters to send some delegates to join them in a meeting with stakeholders tomorrow at the Government House, where issues relating to BEDC would be discussed.
Earlier, Comrade Emmanuel Ogbidi, President, Network of Civil Society Organisations of Nigeria (NOCSON), told the governor that residents of the state were tired of paying for darkness instead of light and of overbilling by BEDC.
He noted that residents of the state are not Father Christmas, so BEDC should live up to its billing.
