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- As Assembly passes vote of no confidence on the distribution company
From John Adams, Minna
Worried by the poor electricity supply to the state, the Niger state House of Assembly has directed the state governor Rt Hon Umar Mohammed Bago to as a matter of urgency begin the process of pulling the state out of the states being covered by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).
The House of Assembly said with the state playing host to four hydro electricity dams, accounting for 60 per cent of electricity in the country, there is no justification for why the state cannot enjoy a minimum of 18 hours of electricity supply in a day.
The House stressed that the people of the state have been pushed to the wall and will no longer tolerate the continued blackout of the state by the distribution company.
The House gave the directive on Tuesday at its plenary when the management of the AEDC, led by the Chief Operating Officer, Mr Okwuokenye Chijioke, appeared before it to explain the continued epileptic power supply to the state.
The House had two weeks ago summoned the management of the distribution company to appear before it to explain to the house, the reason behind the current poor electricity supply to the people of the state
This follows a motion on a matter of urgent public importance brought before the house by the member representing Bids 11 Constituency, Hon. Mohammed Haruna, representing the house to invite the regional manager to appear before it to explain the deteriorating power situation in the state.
The motion was overwhelmingly supported by the entire members of the house who described the services being offered by the distribution company as unacceptable and warned that if nothing is done to improve the situation the house will not hesitate to compel the state government to pull the state out of AEDC controlled states.
After much deliberations on the motion, the speaker, Rt. Hon. Abdulmalik Sarkindaji directed the clerk of the House to immediately write a letter inviting the regional manager of the AEDC, the state commissioner for power and renewable energy and other stakeholders in the electricity business to appear before the House.
However appearing before its plenary on Tuesday, the AEDC Chief Operating Officer told the House that the company is not unaware of the complaints by the people over the poor power supply but blamed the situation on poor payment culture by the consumers.
Mr Chijioke claimed that the distribution company only realized 60 per cent of the energy supply to the people in the state, adding that the company is losing enormous energy as a result of non-payment of energy consumed by the people.
He pointed out that AEDC as a private company buys the energy from the transmission company to sell to the public, adding that due to lack of payment, the company was losing enormous energy.
According to him, the consumers in the state owe AEDC well over N3 billion, describing the debt as huge.
It was at this point that the speaker, Rt. Hon. Abdulmalik Sarkindaji though not presiding at the plenary, told the management of the distribution company that since the consumers in the state could not meet their contractual agreement in the area of payment as the reason for the present poor power supply, the state is ready to pull out of the AEDC controlled states.
He said as the representatives of the people, the 27 state Constituencies have unanimously resolved to mandate the governor to pull the state out of the AEDC and join another Disco, stressing “That is the wish of our people that we are representing.
“We want to try another Disco and compare it with the poor services AEDC has offered to the state in recent times. If we are not satisfied, we will come back and apologize to AEDC.”
