The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has cut off electricity to the Niger state government building as well as to all other ministries, departments, and government agencies. According to investigations, the disconnection that occurred yesterday was caused by a debt load estimated to be over N1.1 billion.
The government violated an agreement it made with AEDC Consultant Seamless Nigeria Limited and the leadership of the House of Assembly in July on how the debt owed to AEDC will be liquidated, leading to the action, which was the second in three months.
In the agreement, the government pledged to be reducing its debt by N274 million monthly in addition to paying the current bills. It was gathered from a source close to the AEDC that the government paid only N274m for the month of July in addition to the current bill but has not paid the second tranche for August and September.
“It is a breach of agreement, the government has not shown any seriousness that it will honour its part of the bargain,” the source said.
Following the action of the AEDC, all the government ministries and agencies including the government house, water board, the Minna General Hospital, and IBB Specialised Hospital have been thrown into blackout resulting in some of them running their equipment on generators.
No official of the government was ready to comment on the development but the Public Relations Officer of the AEDC Mr Mohammed Adamu, when contacted, confirmed the story.
Adamu said: “It is a directive from the consultants, our hands are tied.”