.Workers go into hiding
By Ummi Ismaeel,
Minna
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Niger State Regional Office has been under lock and key while most of the workers have gone into hiding over attacks by angry youths who are protesting epileptic supply and the electrocution to death of three persons, including a pregnant woman at Maitumbi area of Minna, the state capital.
The protesting youths have also threatened to make the state uninhabitable if the government fails to address what they termed incessant power outage and increased billing/tariff by the AEDC.
While the billing system and other charges maintained a steady increase, electricity supply remained stagnated or declined under flimsy excuses, this our correspondent gathered.
It was also gathered that the youths were insisting that, ‘enough is enough’ from the AEDC and the state government.
Some of the youths, who spoke to our correspondent said that they were also not happy over neglect of facilities by the AEDC and blamed the series of deaths, including that of a pregnant woman and two others on the carelessness of the agency.
“Many people have died in the past due to faulty electric cable and bad connections at Angwan-birir, near the Emir’s place and some other places in Minna alone but they will always tell us it is our fault because we tamper with their installations. For how long will this continue, one of the protesters, Farouq, queried.
They accused the AEDC of being only interested in collecting money but does not care about the security and welfare of customers who are always exposed to security risks caused by faulty transformers causing bridging to incessant collapse of high tension wires.
“We reported to their office when we noticed that one of the high tension cables had fallen but they refused to come and repair it, so when they restored supply later in the day, the wires sparked and caught fire”, Farouk said.
Farouk, who also narrated how the inferno destroyed his shop and that of his neighbours, recalled how they battled without success to prevent the spread of the fire on the ill-fated day.
He said that the fire destroyed warehouses and shops with goods worth millions of Naira.
The youths numbering over a hundred threatened to raze down the AEDC Area office beside U K Bello Arts Theatre, near Kasuwan-Gwari after they demanded to see the Regional Manager for explanations over cases of avoidable deaths caused by wrong connections and substandard transformers.
The youths who were said to have earlier secured police permit, chanted anti-governnment and AEDC songs later moved from the Regional Office of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company to Government House Minna.
At Government House gate, the protesters were barred from gaining access into the state seat of power by combined police and military detachments who also forced them to a retreat while the AEDC Regional Manager, Yahaya M Jere, is said to have made an emergency trip to Abuja to meet with the authorities on the issue.
As at the time of this report, the Regional Office of the AEDC, along U K Bello Arts Theatre were still under lock and keys. Few of the staff seen still loitering around could not enter the premises.
The AEDC Regional Head of Public Relations, Mallam Adamu Mohammed, confirmed the foiled attacks on the company’s instillation.
The AEDCs Head of Public Relations Unit who had earlier declined comments on the incessant frictions between the agency and customers in the state, simply told our correspondent that ‘‘the Regional Manager is not around, he has travelled to Abuja. I believe when he comes back we will call the Press for briefing’’.
