AEDC, Assembly Committee Meeting Ended in Deadlock.

Published October 8, 2020 | By Niger Printing and Publishing Company

  

ASSEMBLY ROWDY SESSION  By Ibrahim Akawu

The meeting between the Niger state House of Assembly special committee on power, civil society organizations, labour and youth groups and the representatives of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company AEDC on improved power supply, ended up in deadlock.

The meeting which took place at the assembly complex was at the instance of AEDC and was meant to starve off the planned mass action against them after the 21 days ultimatum issued to them by the state house of assembly and its partners elapsed.

The House of Assembly had, during interactive session some days ago with civil society organizations and organized labour, threatened to shut down the three hydro electric dams in the state unless AEDC ensured 24 hours power supply.

At the resumed sitting today at the chamber of the house which witnessed huge attendance by diverse youth groups, civil society organizations, religious bodies, human rights activists, members of the state assembly and journalists, the Hon Malik Madaki Bosso led panel insisted on 20 hours electricity supply or nothing.

He reiterated that the unique privilege of the state in hosting electricity generating plants; confer rights on its citizens to enjoy 20 hours power supply. He said anything less than that was insulting and therefore unacceptable to the people.

He said if at the expiration of the ultimatum nothing has changed, the people will take their destiny on their own hands.

In his remark, the chairman of the Niger state Youth Council of Nigeria, comrade Bello Sharif said mobilization of youths in all the 25 local government areas of the state has commenced in earnest, pointing out that if this effort has failed, then the state was doomed.

Comrade Sharif said the AEDC have been taking people of Niger state for a ride, disclosing that they have never honour all the pledges they entered in previous agreements.

He said nothing will stop them from shutting down the hydro electric dams except if AEDC supplies 20 hours of electricity as demanded by the coalitions. He said this effort will be the final straw that will break the camel’s back, adding that if AEDC cannot do the work, they have no business being in the state.

The Youth Lead organization, a conglomeration of youth activists together with Center for Democracy, jointly asked the AEDC to pack out of the state and allow other distribution companies to come into the state.

The conveners of the right groups, comrade Mohammed Etsu and comrade Abdullahi Jabi said while other electricity distribution companies were competing for the hours of electricity they supply to their customers, the AEDC were only giving excuses for their failure.

They said the only solution to their agitation concerning power supply in the state was complete metering of households and 20 hours of electricity supply. They said nothing short of this will be accepted.

Earlier, the Chief Operating Officer of AEDC, Engr Sa’idu Gorobe, while explaining their position said the highest the company could offer was 12 hours of electricity supply.

He said the company has enough energy to share but the problem, he said, was that people were not paying for their electricity bills.

Engr Gorobe said the company had been incurring losses in their sales of energy especially in Minna, adding that with the poor state of distribution of infrastructure and shortfall in revenue, the hands of AEDC as a profit making venture were tight.

He disclosed that for the state to enjoy 20 hours uninterrupted power supply, the electricity consumers must be able to pay N1.6b monthly to sustain the services.

He further disclosed that the company was loosing N816 million monthly when it was providing longer hours of electricity but could not afford to continue with loosing such amount of money.

Engr Gorobe stated that the state government has entered into partnership to provide five thousand meters to residents in the state, while the AEDC will complement the effort with additional three thousand.

Speaking to journalists after the session ended in deadlock, the Chief Communication Officer of AEDC said the company had tried to starve off the impending protest by the people of the state by offering to up the supply of power by 12 hours.

He said the company was constraint by the recent regulatory law on different categories of end-users, hence the decision to assign category B, which is 12 hours, an effort he said was fair to the state and urged the committee and their partners to accept.

The IGP, while noting that the dissolution of SARS is in response to the yearnings of the Nigerian people, observes that by this dissolution, all officers and men of the now defunct Special Anti-robbery Squad are being redeployed with immediate effect. 

The IGP notes that the Force is not oblivious of the ever present need to combat armed robbery, kidnapping and other violent crimes in the country which was before now the core mandate of the erstwhile Squad. He assures that a new policing arrangement to address anticipated policing gaps the dissolution of SARS would cause has been evolved and shall be announced in due course.

Meanwhile, as part of measures to prevent a re-occurrence of events that gave rise to the dissolution of SARS, a Citizens’ and Strategic Stakeholders’ Forum is being formed to regularly interface with Police leadership at all levels and advise on police activities as they affect the general public. 

In addition, the Force is constituting an Investigation Team which shall include Civil Society Organizations and Human Rights Bodies to work with the Police in investigating alleged cases of human rights violations. The measure, the IGP believes, will enhance transparency and accountability in police services as well as providing a system of deterrence for erring police officers whose action clearly violates the rights of the citizenry.

The IGP appreciates and commends all citizens particularly those who genuinely express their concerns for a better policing orientation in an organized, patriotic and civil manner. He reaffirms the determination of the Force to bequeath to the country a Police Force and System that is professional in service delivery and most importantly, accountable to the people. 

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