Ekiti Govt rejects planned 23-day power outage, invites stakeholders to a meeting
The Ekiti State Government has refused to accept the planned 23-day power outage in the state, announced by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), saying the economic, financial, and social impact on the residents would be enormous.
This followed BEDC’s public notice broadcast on radio and other social media platforms, revealing a power cut would be experienced between July and August this year in Ondo and Ekiti States.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) had earlier announced plans “to carry out critical maintenance work on the 132KV Akure Osogbo transmission line, and also install Optical Ground Wire (OPGW), among other activities.”
But the Ekiti State’s Commissioner for Public Utilities, Mobolaji Aluko, in a letter dated June 30, informed the Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Company (NERC), Abuja, the MD/CEO of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Abuja, and the MD/CEO of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), Benin-City, that no direct notification or communication was sent to the state government.
The letter read: “Our attention has been called to public notifications, both in print and in jingles in English and in Yoruba, of the intention of BEDC under advice by TCN to disrupt power supply to the transmission stations in Akure and Ado-Ekiti and effect to adversely affect Ekiti and Ondo State areas – for nine hours each day (8.00 am to 5.00 pm) from 1 July to 31 August 2024.
“No direct notification/communication was made to the Ekiti State Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Utilities (MIPU) on this matter, nor was approval sought and obtained from the Ekiti State Electricity Regulatory Bureau (EKSERB), saddled by law with the full authority to regulate the electricity industry in Ekiti State.
“The planned disruption of electricity for three-eighths of each day for sixty-two days, amounting to five hundred and fifty-eight hours (558) total and twenty-three days of outage in these two months amounts to an unacceptable economic, financial and social price to be paid by the citizens of Ekiti State, and we totally reject such a plan.”
The government, therefore requested an immediate suspension of the proposal and called for an emergency meeting with TCN, BEDC, and NERC on Tuesday, July 2.
Credit: Premium Times
