Electricity supply to Niger State and its agencies has been disconnected owing to an accumulated N1.3 billion unpaid bill.
Legal Officer at the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Mr Aminu Ubandoma, who disclosed this in Minna on Thursday, said the company had no choice but to disconnect supply as the debt had been long overdue.
Ubandoma said the AEDC has disconnected supply to the Government House, ministries, departments and agencies over unpaid electricity bills up to September.
“The government released N200 million out of the outstanding debt in September and promised to pay N100 million monthly until it offsets the debt.
“It failed to meet the obligation, however.
“The debt notwithstanding, the government has been up to date since then in offsetting its current monthly bills of about N75 million.
“We took the decision to disconnect supply since the government reneged on its promise to pay outstanding debt at the rate of N100 million monthly.
“That promise was made after an intervention by the state’s House of Assembly four months ago,’’ Ubandoma said.
He said the AEDC would restore power supply to government facilities only after the payment of at least N500 million of the outstanding debt.
Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Ahmed Matane, has said the state government would settle the debt when its finances improved.
“This debt was inherited by the current administration and since the government is a continuum, we will settle it when the government’s financial position improves.
“We have invested more than N13 billion on the procurement of many facilities for the AEDC to enable it to perform optimally.
“The company should have commended the state government for its useful contribution to its growth rather than embarking on mass disconnection of supply to government facilities,’’ he said.
