…. denies disconnection of Army Barracks
From Olanrewaju Lawal,Birnin Kebbi
Kebbi state branch office of Kaduna electricity distribution company ( KEADCO) has disclosed that the Nigeria Army Barracks, Birnin Kebbi owed the company huge amount of money which are yet to be settled.
The Company also debunked the rumours that their Birnin Kebbi staff had disconnected the army barracks in Birnin Kebbi which sparked the assault on their staff by the Nigerian army Dukku barracks in Birnin Kebbi.
Chief regional manager of KAEDCO in charge of Sokoto,Kebbi and Zamfara,Mr. Sunday Yahya stated this while addressing newsmen over the invasion of the company premises by unknown Soldiers,where some of their Staff were injured.
He explained that,there was never a time when their staff disconnected the army barracks in Kebbi state.
Yahya described the assault on their Staff as unprovoked stressed that KAEDCO as a company respects men and women of the Nigerian army .
“Even as they are owing the company huge amount of money, the company never attempted to disconnect the army barracks . We have been engaging them at the highest level and there is progress in what we are doing at the top there”, he said.
He explained that low power supply in the state was caused by low allocation and poor remittence from consumers.
According to him, ” recently the company was merely embarked on disconnections because of the company’s inability to pay the huge debt its owing. Therefore, it is not peculiar to Kebbi alone but a National problem because generation has drastically reduced making it difficult to feed the six feeders in Kebbi which are Gwadangaji which the army barracks is under,Tudun wada, Nassarawa and GRA feeders with only 11 megawatts to share. While Gwadangaji alone requires 7 megawatts to allow customers in the area to enjoy 12hrs of supply as band C ,including other bands that make up the the six feeders”.
On the strike embarked upon to protest the soldiers assault on their staff in Birnin Kebbi , the regional manager said that National union of electricity employees NUEE was responsible for it not the company to ensure their staff are safe as they are discharging their official duties.
He condemned those who were junilating over the assault on their Staff in the video circulating on the social media,insisted that their Staff could not work under hostility environment.
“So, the union felt that the staff cannot work under a hostile environment, hence,that is the reason they down tools untill they are given assurance that their staff are safe to operate in the state_.
He thanked Kebbi State Governor,Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu for wading into the issue to salvage the situation stressed that, soon, they will reached compromise because the state government ,the special adviser on power ,Alhaji Yusuf Haruna are working on the expansion of the overloaded Gwadangaji feeder.
It could be recalled that Soldiers suspected to be from Dukku barrack, allagedly stormed Birnin Kebbi district office of KAEDCO on Saturday,and assaulted both staff and customers who came to pay their bills on allegations that the company had disconnected the barrack.