N47.1bn Debt: Darkness Looms In Abuja Barracks, 84 MDAs

BY CHIKA OKEKE, Abuja

There is an indication that barracks in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and 84 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) will remain in darkness soon over N47.1 billion debt.

To this end, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) PLC has issued the affected customers 10-day disconnection notice to defray their debts or risk blackout from February 28, 2024.

In a disconnection notice issued on Monday, AEDC lamented that the MDAs have long outstanding unpaid bills for services rendered to them through the provision of electricity supply.

Some of the affected MDAs include the Ministries of Finance, Information, Budget, Works and Housing, barracks, Nigeria Police Force, Presidential Villa, CBN Governor, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and state liaison offices in the FCT.

It reads: "The Abuja Electricity Distribution PLC is constrained to do this publication with the details of Government, Ministries, Departments and Agencies with long outstanding unpaid bills for services rendered to them through the provision of electricity supply in that our previous attempts to make them honour their obligations have not achieved the desired results.

“The relevant MDAs are hereby given notice that the AEDC shall after the expiration of 10 days from the date of this publication, that is, after Wednesday, 28th February, 2024, embark on the disconnection of our services to them until they discharge their obligations to us by paying their debts.”

News Rider reports that in 2020, the Federal Government increased the electricity tariff on a promise that there would be an improvement in supply but Nigerians are still grappling with darkness.

Currently, Nigeria spends over $1.5 billion annually to address the shortfall in the country’s electricity sector, according to World Bank statistics in 2021.

This was even as the bank attested that 78 per cent of power consumers in Nigeria get less than 12 hours of daily supply of electricity.

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