He was quoted as saying, “Debt owed is loaded on the meter,
so no matter the amount of credit we put, the meters pick it automatically.
Corpses in the Army mortuaries are decomposing and the owners of the corpses
are protesting.”
According to the statement, “he (Lagbaja) further stated
that the army couldn’t raise funds to pay the entire debt, as he solicited
liquidation as was done in 2005 by the then President.”
“Debt owed is loaded on the meter, so no matter the amount
of credit we put, the meters pick it automatically. Corpses in the Army
mortuaries are decomposing and the owners of the corpses are protesting.”
According to the statement, “he (Lagbaja) further stated
that the army couldn’t raise funds to pay the entire debt, as he solicited
liquidation as was done in 2005 by the then President.”
Responding, Adelabu assured the Nigerian Army of his
readiness to dialogue with the power distribution companies to relieve the
Nigerian Army of its electricity debt burden amounting to N42bn.
He reiterated the importance of liquidity and funding in the
power sector, adding that the Debt could not be written off.
Adelabu told his guest that he would intervene to
restructure the debt payment if there was assurance of regular payments by the
Nigerian Army.
“The fundamental issues in the power sector value chain
could be traced back to the last 50 years and a government that is barely eight
months old cannot use a magic wand to proffer a solution. There is a saying
that you won’t know what is happening in Rome until you get to Rome,” he
stated.
The minister said power outages were not peculiar to army
barracks but a national issue, adding that the Discos and Gencos were
profit-oriented organisations.
“We can only plead with them to adopt a repayment plan
monthly instead of embedding the whole debt in their meter,” Adelabu stated.
Recall that AEDC in February 20 issued a
disconnection notice to Presidential Villa and 86 other Ministries Departments
and Agencies of the Government over electricity bill to the tune of N47
billion.
The power firm had threatened to disconnect the MDAs in 10
days should they fail to pay their debts.
Meanwhile, the president had directed immediate settlement
of the debt.
