…Bar owner threatens to sue EEDC

Edward Nnachi, Abakaliki

The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company has said that the 4,000 megawatts generated in Nigeria daily cannot meet the electricity needs of Nigerians.

Head of Corporate Communications, EEDC, Mr Emeka Eze, said this while reacting to an allegation that it was deliberately providing poor services to the customers in the zone.

Speaking with The PUNCH on Tuesday, Eze said that the country generates 4,000 megawatts of electricity daily, adding that it was not enough to solve the electricity needs of Nigeria, which he said, was over 200 million people.

While maintaining that the crisis rocking the nation’s power sector was fundamental, Eze said the challenges currently confronting the sector, could not be solved overnight.

“The challenges facing the nation’s power sector is huge, fundamental and requires fundamental and pragmatic steps to address them. We are not folding our arms in the midst of this myriad of challenges.

“We have embarked on some project to solve the electricity problems in the South-East geopolitical zone. We have built some sub-stations in Awka, Enugu, Owerri, Abakaliki and we have mapped out some projects to be executed in Aba, the economic hub of Abia State.

“So, we are trying our best to render quality service to our customers. But there are also challenges of energy theft, vandalism, meter bypass and no payment of bills. These are issues, but we are poised to serve our customers better,” Eze said.

Meanwhile, a bar owner, Francis Ogbonnaya on Osisioma Road, Ihie village of Amasiri community, in the Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State has threatened to sue the EEDC for what he described as characterised fraud, breach of contract and abuse of confidence, amongst others claims.

Ogbonnaya said, “I’m suing these people because of what I consider a breach of contract and abuse of confidence. They believe that because they have a monopoly of power supply in a country like Nigeria, they can treat their customers anyhow. So, I want to sue them for abuse of confidence, breach of contract and usurpation of power.

“When I talk as a legal practitioner and say something like characterised fraud and abuse of confidence, it is because I pay electricity bills without seeing the service. I pay bills, months in advance and can also stay for a while without seeing light. This is an abuse of confidence.

“When you sign a contract, the contractor should deliver and the customer should pay for the service being rendered by the contractor. The worse is that the EEDC have the impetus to come and disconnect someone who has not seen any sign of light for months.

“The last time my community was supplied electricity was September 7, 2019. That was two months ago and it only lasted for seven minutes. And since then, I have not seen a shadow of light from EEDC. I run generator from 1st of January to 31st of December, every year. It is very unfortunate for us. I spend N45,000 to power my generator.”