BY GODWIN IJEDIOGOR
THE Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, has lamented that bodies in its morgues nationwide were decomposing due to power outage.
According to a statement signed by a media aide to the Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, Mr. Bolaji Tunji, on Friday, February 23, in Abuja, Lagbaja said this when he visited the minister to seek his intervention in the N42billion debt the military owes the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).
AEDC had given 83 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and other debtors in its franchise area a 10-day notice to settle their debt or risk disconnection.
The stated quoted the Army chief as saying: “Corpses in the army mortuaries are decomposing and the owners of the corpses are protesting,” adding that the main reason for his visit was to discuss the consequences of the power outage in Army formations and the way forward, as some barracks and cantonments have been in total blackout since January.
“Debt owed is loaded on the meter, so no matter the amount of credit we put, the meters pick it automatically.
“It is impossible for the Army to raise funds to pay the entire debt. Therefore, we solicit for liquidation, as was done in 2005 by the then president,” Lagbaja reportedly said, even as he assured the minister of the Army’s unflinching support towards developing intelligence strategies in curbing the menace of electricity infrastructure vandalism.
Responding, Adelabu, according to the statement, assured Lagbaja of his readiness to dialogue with the electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to relieve the Army of its electricity debt burden.
He emphasised the importance of liquidity and funding in the power sector; hence debts could not be written off, but expressed his readiness to intervene in order to restructure the debt payment if there was assurance of regular payment by the Army.
The minister said power outages are not peculiar to Army barracks, but a national issue, as electricity distribution companies (DisCos) and generating companies (GenCos) are profit-oriented organisations, noting: “We can only plead with them to adopt a repayment plan on a monthly basis, instead of embedding the whole debt in their meter.”
Adelabu said that debt owed DisCos and GenCos was not the only challenge bedeviling the power sector, adding: “Vandalisam of power infrastructure often leads to national grid collapse.
“Other concerns include theft, inefficiency in billing and collection process, poor metering gap, liquidity and shortage in gas supply.
“Transmission stations being blown up with explosives in volatile areas are all part of the issues being experienced in the sector.”
He said fundamental issues in the power sector value chain could be traced back to the last 50 years, noting that the current government, which is barely eight months, cannot use a magic wand to proffer solution.
While encouraging the Army to continue assisting the ministry in safeguarding power facilities across the nation, the minister pledged to seek collaboration with them through any of the development partners for installation of solar Photovoltaics (PVs) and Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) as alternative power supply in Army barracks and cantonments.
