National Wire About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories
Olabode Adaramola
Youths in their hundreds on Wednesday brought to a halt for several hours commercial and social activities in Bida,, the headquarters of Bida emirate in protest over what they referred to as “obnoxious and deliberate act by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) to strangulate power supply to the city and its neighbouring communities .”
The protesters barricaded all entry points to the ancient town and major intersections within the Bida Local Government Areas , thereby stalling human and vehicular movements., while vehicles caught in the crisis could not get out of the city for about five hours the protest lasted.
The protesters under the auspices of Concerned Bidite Steering Committee and who were in all-back attire symbolizing persistent blackout bear placards with inscriptions such as “No light, no bill”, “AEDC bring back our light”, “we are tired of blackout,” ‘Give us pre-paid meters” among others. Some of them were also bearing local lanterns and torch-lights of various brands .
They held peaceful procession to the Bida office of AEDC located on Lemu off Zungeru road, where they presented their position to the Niger state regional Manager of the Organisation , Mr. Abednego Akubuko.
The protesters thereafter marched to the Wadata Palace of the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, where they also presented their grievances to the royal father.
In the position signed by the steering Committee Chairman, Comrade Umar A.Saidu, he oointed out that “In the past 28 months, power supply to the citizens of Bida has been worrisome, poor, repeatedly and viciously epileptic, inspite the fact that hydro- power stations are situated in our state.”
He stated further that the epileptic power supply has adversely affected the economic growth of Bida thereby, “hurting the unsuspecting, vulnerable citizenry’ highlighting that despite this anomaly, citizens and residents pay staggering amount of money on monthly basis as bills for power not consumed.
The concerned Bidite steering committee thereby gave the AEDC 3-weeks within which to restore steady power supply and stop estimated billing.
At the palace, the Etsu Nupe appealed to the protesters to remain calm while he study their position, even as he promised to add his own opinion to the vexed issue of epileptic power supply in his domains after which he would forward same to the appropriate authority for action.
Meanwhile, in his immediate reaction to the issues raised by the protesters the AEDC’s Head Public Relations and Media, Malam Ahmed Shekarau said the demand for 24 hours of electricity supply is impossible in any part of Nigeria at the moment, saying that “we currently give them supply for 12 hours, which is very good considering the energy allocation to our Company.”
Also on the issue of estimated billing, Malam Shekarau said eventhough the AEDC recognises the right of each of its customers to have a meter, which is an accurate mechanism for measuring their consumption, but because it inherited a situation whereby half of its customers were unmetered, it cannot bridge the metering gap as quickly as the customers would want.
