Abuja: Protesters shut AEDC office in Utako over 6-day power outage (PHOTOS)

Utako, one of the commercial hubs in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory was Tuesday, literally shutdown following a protest by a group of people who identified themselves as Utako villagers to the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, AEDC, office.

The protesters, as early as 8.30am stormed the AEDC office just by beggar junction, near Arab Contractors, bearing placards, and questioning a six-day power shutdown by the company. The aggrieved villagers in their number insisted on seeing the Manager of the company and to ask why they were no longer entitled to their constitutional given right. Angered by the refusal of the management to come out to address them, the angry protesters barricaded the entrance to AEDC office, demanding that their light be reconnected back before any staff of the company would be allowed to go out of the office. Customers who went to the office to make payment were equally turned back by the protesters.

As tension continued to mount over the restriction of staff’s movement by the protesters, some policemen were mobilized to the scene of the protest. The men led by a female officer tried to address the protesters who remained adamant, insisting that power should be restored first before they could dialogue with the management.

Speaking with DAILY POST, the leader of the protester, Mr Anthony Julius said, ‘’For six days now, we have not had light in Utako village. And on Friday, we were at NEPA office in Jabi and when we got there, we met one woman…I don’t know her name. After discussing with her, she promised they were going to reconnect us back on Monday – being yesterday. They said Utako village is owing them N10m and I can’t imagine how my house rent here in Utako village will be N40,000 and my light bill will also be N40,000. So that’s why we have come for them to correct this bill officially and they refused. I can’t imagine how someone will expect me to leave my feeding in this present situation of things in the country to only pay NEPA bill. That I should leave my belly to pay N40’000 light bill? That will not work.

‘’So, they disconnected us since 6 days ago. We went to meet them, but they refused to comply. We learnt from a reliable source that they want us to negotiate. So if we are going to negotiate anything with them, they must first of all reconnect us, then we can negotiate. We have tried to appease them all this while, but they have been doing it their own way; that is why this morning, we have decided to do it our own way.

Responding to whether AEDC still estimate their bills instead of allocating pre-paid meters to houses, he said, ‘’they have been using estimated bills for us and have refused to supply us the prepaid meter. They said we are going to buy the prepaid meter and all of us in the village agreed to buy the meter, but we did not see meters to buy.

‘’Secondly, about 50% of us in the village have meters but they still disconnected us even when we have credits in our meters. That is the more reason we are here today. I cannot have money in my meter, yet you are disconnecting me. You cannot disconnect me when I have meter. So we want to know why. If some people owe you, why do you have to disconnect both the ones owing and those not owing you? So that is the reason we are here this morning.

Speaking on their previous meeting, he said, ‘’we have previously had discussions with their office in Jabi. Their manager there in Jabi said, that she will not reconnect us till Monday because she wanted us to suffer. We asked to know why we must suffer, but no reason was provided. For this reason, she promised to come on Saturday to reconnect us but we didn’t see her. We waited for her on Sunday but we didn’t see her, on Monday they didn’t come and today is Tuesday.

Lamenting the ‘epileptic’ nature of the power they get, he said, ‘’the light is not constant, sometimes two hours a day. But one funny thing is that there is constant light in their office (NEPA) here. It was because we are protesting that they switched off their own light this morning. They don’t run out of light and we understand from a reliable source that it is those of us at Utako village that pay their bills. We want them to show us their light bill if they have one; we want to see their bills.

Sending a message across to power managers across the country, Anthony said, ‘’The message I have for them in respect of all the villages in Abuja is that most of their staff are corrupt. They are the ones that will disconnect you in the morning; they will come back in the evening, collect money from you and reconnect you.

‘’We have agreed that most of the villages in Abuja today have DGM around, so let the DGMs in the villages assist to do the job so that it will work. As long as we are concerned, NEPA staff are corrupt, so is either they sack some of their workers or continue to render poor services.

But appealing to the protester, the female officer who refused to disclose his identity to our reporter requested the leader of the protester to select five people for a meeting with AEDC management in Jabi.

Sensitizing the protesters, she said, ‘’every crisis is open to settlement; are we not looking for a way to settle this matter? If we don’t handle this situation well now, it may escalate to something else whether we like it or not. You are the representative, give us five of your people, so that we can go in and discuss and if it doesn’t work, we will know the next thing to do.

”Let’s go there and when we get there, we will dialogue, I assure you everything will be fine. I assure you that after we dialogue; they will come and reconnect your light.’’

The protesters eventually agreed with the officer but threatened to return if power was not restored immediately.