Former president of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Senator representing Edo North district in the National Assembly, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, has berated the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) for collecting customers’ money without providing reciprocal services.
Chairman of United Bank for Africa, Mr Tony Elumelu owns a 60% stake in the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) through his Transcorp Group.
This makes Transcorp Group under the chair of Tony Elumelu the majority shareholder in the utility firm.
In a video doing the rounds on social media, vocal Oshiomhole said in a Senate plenary presided over by Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, to take drastic actions to curb the ugly and unacceptable trend.
He said ” I voted against the wish of my colleagues on the idea of privatising eletricity. My main argument then was that the beauty of capitalism and of private ownership is that in seeking to make profit, you must provide a service but the danger of public ownership is that whether they render services or not they draw from the tax payers’ money to correct what is there.
“I couldn’t imagine what we are experiencing today, that a private person will collect money for services not rendered and the Nigerian people are helpless.
“Even we, the privileged class, I had to buy the transformer that I used here in the heart of Abuja. I had to persuade, negotiate, and even make payment to Abuja Distribution, whatever (Abuja Electricity Distribution Company), for them to install and energize it.
“This transformer that I procure with my resource thereafter becomes the property of the Disco, and I’m asked to pay electricity bills for Band A.
“Most Governors buy transformer for their communities. Many of us will soon go back to the electorate, they will tell us they had no light for a year or two because of transformer, they will tell Senators to buy the transformers, we will look for money to buy the transformers, they will say that the Disco say we should pay to install and energise it.
“If cables are faulty, they will ask you to buy the cables. As I speak , I have requests from several communities asking me to buy transformers and get them connected.
“The key requirements are transformer and cables. If state governors use government funds to procure transformers, if individuals use their personal resources to procure transformers and cables, what is the cost that these Discos are incurring?
“The logic of privatisation is to inject funds into the company. They borrow from the Nigerian depositors funds in various banks, thereby killing some of these banks and making them a liability of AMCON.
“What they have borrowed from CBN and these other banks is 10 ten higher than what they have invested in these Discos.
” Lastly, Discos owns 60% while the federal government owns 40%, but there are no governing council, there are no governing board for these Discos. Federal government owns 40% of these Discos but has no say.
“The one in Edo is owned by a pharmacist, the wife is a banker, the pharmacist becomes the chairman, and the wife becomes the MD. They mismanaged Edo economy, Delta economy, Ondo economy, and Ekiti economy without further investment, and we are down now in crisis. I can’t pay my bills in Benin.
“So Mr. President, I support the motion by my colleague for a radical review, including the option of revoking the ill- conceived, ill- executed privatisation and revisit it in line with Mr. President new agenda so that no Nigerian will pay for services not rendered. Imagine us going to a petrol station without a pump. Someone will just sell fuel and tell us to pay without knowing the exact litres of fuel sold, and we have no means to verify it”
Watch Video here;
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