Niger State government is demanding for 13 per cent derivation allocation from the Federal Government over the generation of electricity from three hydro dams – Shiroro, Jebba and Kainji – all located in the state.
It stated that the demand was necessary because all
Nigerians depend largely on electricity generated from the state and should be compensated. The state government also lamented that despite the dependence of the nation for its electricity from Niger State, the residents still suffer total blackout.
It pointed out that it was recently the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC)’s Regional Manager Corporate Communications, Adamu Mohammed Dantani, attributed the blackout to the activities of the Niger Delta militants.
But the state Governor, Sani Bello, during stakeholders’ meeting with representatives of communities hosting the three dams, Power generating, Transmission and Distribution companies, at the Government House, Minna, said that the trend had to stop and demanded that Niger State be given 13 per cent derivation.
The governor lamented that the state, despite hosting the nation’s three major dams, its citizens for almost three months now have been in darkness, paralyzing both business and domestic activities without any convincing reason from those who should know, the AEDC.
Worried by the potential threats to peace and security to lives and properties the incessant blackout poses to citizens, Bello said that he decided to convene a meeting of major stakeholders with a view to not only identifying but finding solutions to the problem as it affects the government and people of the state.
Governor Bello faulted the equitable distribution of electricity from the national grid to the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, Abuja, insisting that with the present situation of things in Nigeria, ‘‘the era of equitable sharing of the country’s endowments is over.”
Bello insisted: “Something extra should be given to us and this is what the host communities in Jebba, Shiroro and Kainji and my people in Niger State are saying”.
Bello said that his administration had for long managed the people’s anger, frustration and protests against the failure of the electricity generating, transmission and distribution companies to live up to their social responsibilities hence the purpose for the stakeholders’ meeting.
He however expressed the hope that the outcome of the meeting would translate into improved electricity situation after waiting for months.
According to Bello, “We have had people react in protest over an issue or to have them believe that it is only when they protest that they can get the attention and get what they want is rather a dangerous trend that poses serious security threat to any society but the truth is that Niger State needs to improve on power supply and the people appear to be running out of patience”.
The governor however said that the state was looking at other options of generating enduring power to meet the needs of citizens including but not limited to establishing an embedded thermal plant or mini hydro-power dams across the state that would generate 1-10 mega watts of electricity.
Bello appealed to all the companies involved in the generation transmission and distribution of electricity in the state to carry out their corporate social responsibilities on host communities, adding that providing youths from host communities with jobs and improving their human relations with the people wouldn’t be too much for asking.
Also on behalf of the host communities, Mrs. Rose Abara, who is also the state Commissioner for Gender Affairs, lamented that the inability of the management of the dams to meet their corporate social responsibilities has continued to heighten tension in the areas and appealed that something should be done and urgently too.
Abara said that the blackout being experienced across most of the host communities was responsible for the recent protest by youth from Shiroro Local Government Area and therefore called on the management of the dams to live up to their responsibilities as a way of dousing tension.
Also in their separate reactions, representatives of the electricity companies and other stakeholders agreed that the precarious power situation in the state was becoming volatile but blamed the situation on the massive decline in power generation from the Hydro-power Dams and the Thermal plants.
.Source: nigerianewsflight.com
