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POWER MANAGEMENT COMPANIES: LEGALIZED ROBBERS, UNDEMOCRATIC SET UP

Power management Companies in Nigeria has become a nightmare to many homes and organizations. The conduct of power generation and distribution or their marketers is by the day becoming something else in the economy of Nigeria and in the life of Nigeria. The consensus opinion over these companies is that government is using them to rob the people of their scarce, unavailable resources.  It is a known fact that goods and services are to be paid for when the buyer takes value for what is purchased, but in the case of this companies, they meet their inefficiency on the people by making them pay for services not rendered.

I was at an area in Ilorin recently and was made to know that for almost one year, their transformer got bad and those who make money from the transformer Ibadan electricity Company, IBEDEC, did not deem it fit to repair the said equipment, instead, they made the people repair the transformer by taxing themselves. Sad enough, a source close to the community heads said that the IBEDEC staff manager in charge of their area said that it is the duty of the people to repair the transformer and that the cost of repairing it will not be translated into power usage by those who repaired it. I liken it to a Taxi driver conveying passengers to a place asking them to pay money to repair his cab when it breaks down and still collect their fare when they get to their various destinations.

As it that is not enough, the transformer was repaired after about eleven months and the first bill presented by these unscrupulous IBEDEC was about twenty thousand naira cumulative. I was given a particular bill, a friend living in the neighbourhood, who left the house on account of non-availability of power to do his work and relocated temporarily to his office. I then asked, is it sensible that IBEDEC charges when there was not even a transformer in the area? Aside that, a house that was abandoned by the occupant is still being charged as if power was consumed by some ghosts in the house.

I later went to town asking about power issues from the people and I was even made to understand that the so-called Prepaid meters had been suspended from circulation because the IBEDEC people will not be able to harass power consumers as before. Prepaid meters were said to be free but we hear of exorbitant money being paid to obtain it when available but even now it is not even made available at all.

The power holding companies have taken the people for a ride for too long and this violent matter may erupt into violence someday if Government refuses to step in accordingly. If the people have prepaid meters, they will be able to manage what they consume but what happens in a situation where the power managers just look at an area and bill them just by guesswork, best of judgment or rule of hand.

The power holding companies have taken the people for a ride for too long and this violent matter may erupt into violence someday if Government refuses to step in accordingly. If the people have prepaid meters, they will be able to manage what they consume but what happens in a situation where the power managers just look at an area and bill them just by guesswork, best of judgment or rule of hand.

Good as it may seem to the power managers, it is an economic sabotage in that people pay for services not enjoyed; digging holes into their pockets and the resultant effect of such holes is increased poverty in the society and increased crime, robbery and other vices. It is  high time our government look into this matter before it boomerangs.

 

The incompetence of the operator in managing and monitoring the usage of power by providing efficient metering equipment is now passed to the people as indirect punishment and resultant slavery.

The incompetence of the operator in managing and monitoring the usage of power by providing efficient metering equipment is now passed to the people as indirect punishment and resultant slavery. The operation of these power holding companies seem unacceptable legalized robbery of the people and it is virtually undemocratic. They act and behave as if the people have no choice. Their inefficiency has promoted generator manufacturing plants and sellers in Nigeria in which several Trillions of naira also sink instead of being used for trade. Many companies had gone under as a result of the unbearable burden of fuel consumption power generators as if there is no supply of electricity in Nigeria.

On behalf of the good people of Nigeria, I call on President Muhamadu Buhari to look into these areas and wade in for there to be real change as his party promised the people. IBEDEC is peculiar to south-west, there are others across the nation who do same to innocent Nigerian.

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