5th May, 2023
PRESS RELEASE:
MURIC BERATES EPILEPTIC POWER SUPPLY IN KEBBI STATE
Recent happenings as regards power supply cut-off in Birnin Kebbi metropolis has been a subject of discuss by all and sundry at any available space and time. The power supply outage has meted untold hardships and has posed serious threats on the economic and social lives of the citizens. This trend has only reached its peak now but has been in existence for almost two months.
We all remember how the citizens were subjected to abysmal power supply during Ramadan despite the hot weather condition and the attendant dehydration occasioned during such period. Several complaints made by individuals and groups fell on deaf ears as the management of Kaduna Electric failed to respond to the yearnings of the people even through apology. This is in total violation of the rights of customers as provided by NERC Consumer Rights Regulations.
We are aware that the attention of the Area Manager has earlier been drawn by some stakeholders to the security implications of his (in)actions but he rebuffed all. The action of those military personnel (either legal or illegal) is only one of such implications.
This necessitates the call for all the relevant power and security agencies to put to check the excesses of the Kaduna Electric management and staff on power supply in Birnin Kebbi metropolis in particular and the state at large vis-a-vis the security, economic, health and social implications of their professional negligence.
While we don’t support jungle justice and individuals taking the law into their hands, we find it difficult and condemn in totality the rationale of throwing away the baby with the bath water.
MURIC has many questions begging for answers: What is the offence of the company’s customers who have been paying their bills monthly (including those with prepaid metres) and have been subjected to unjustified epileptic power supply for over two months now? What differentiates homo sapiens from animal farm if a basic necessity like electricity is been denied to them in this era?
How can a trader be fighting and even punishing all his customers for an offence committed by a section of customers? What can they say on the rights of the talakawas that have been paying their bills and yet they only receive darkness? Are the Kaduna Electric aware that they are to be responsible for the damages incurred by their customers due to their failure to fulfill their own side of the bargain?
We are calling on the federal and state governments as well as the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to sanction whoever is responsible for this anti-masses decision so as to ensure prompt restoration of power supply as well as arrest such situation in future. Such will only serve as a lesson to other DISCOS and any other corporate body or individual that may cause any type of economic sabotage.
Nigeria is not animal farm and as such, its citizens should not be subjected to untold hardships. Their economic, security and social lives must be guaranteed. Such is the primary function of government and its functionaries and any other individual or corporate body providing basic necessity whether public or private.
We demand an immediate restoration of power supply and an apology from the management of Kaduna Electric for this brazen abuse of rights of the citizens as such attitude contradicts the ethos of a civilized society.
Dr. Abdullahi Bello Umar
Chairman
Mal. Nasiru Muhammad Kwaifa
Secretary
