- Safiu Kehinde
Sequel to yesterday’s protest by students at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, over the disconnection of their hostel by Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), the Special Adviser to the Minister of Power on Media, Bolaji Tunji, has explained reason behind the decision.
The students had called out the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, following his intervention on the power crisis between UCH and IBEDC which saw power restored at the hospital but left the students hostel in blackout.
Explaining the cause of the development in a telephone conversation made available to NPO Reports,Tunji disclosed that the IBEDC had initially disconnected UCH over unpaid electricity bill which he estimated to be about N238 million.
The intervention of the Power Minister, which his spokesman claimed was not the first time, saw both parties eventually coming to an agreement on measures to take to ensure the bill is paid with power restored to the hospital.
“As we all know, the Minister was at UCH on Monday and he met with the Chief Medical Director accompanied by the Managing Director of the Electricity Distribution Company,
“At the meeting, it was established that UCH was owing IBEDC about N238 million and efforts to get them to pay had not yielded results because UCH was unable to pay.
“They could not raise the money. It is not the first time that the Minister will intervene in that matter. It had happened.” Tunji said.
According to him, it was discovered that the students hostel and other establishments around the UCH have been sharing the hospital’s power supply without paying which led to the accumulation of the huge debt.
An agreement was, however, reached to separate the hostel and others benefiting from UCH power supply in order to reduce the debt burden on the hospital- a decision that was agreed upon by other stakeholders which include the University of Ibadan and the College of Medicine.
“Separate the account. Once you separate the account, let each of these units pay.
“Apart from the hostel, those who have supermarkets and others are all using electricity. Shops, all of these people, they were not paying.
“So, the agreement was that separate all these things and then UCH will start paying on installment.
“The Minister said he has been ensuring that it’s easy for UCH to restore electricity to all the clinical services hich is what UCH is al about which was done.
“Then UCH will discuss with other stakeholders, the College of Medicine, UI, and others so that they can find a way to pay for their consumption. Everybody agreed” Tunji said.
He said that the IBEDC was expecting the University Ibadan, which run the affairs of the hostel, to come to an agreement on how the outstanding debts allotted to the hostel will be paid before restoring power.
“What we felt should have happened was for UI or College of Medicine to reach out to IBEDC and say okay we understand we have College of Medicine and we hostel for our students and we know they are consuming power.
“We will pay this amount of money. We will pay for their consumption and this is how we are going to pay.
“This is what IBEDC is waiting for and once they have that agreement, IBEDC will restore light to those places.” he said.
Meanwhile, Tunji emphasized that the IBEDC is an independent body and not under the Ministry of Power.
He reiterated that the students agitation should have been directed to the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) which supervises DisCos in the country.
“Let me also state that what is happening is between IBEDC as a corporate entity independent of government and the customer.
“It doesn’t involve the Ministry of Power. The Minister has nothing to do with this. He is only the Minister of Power who oversee the agencies under it.
“IBEDC is not under the Minister of Power. If we are to talk about who have direct control of IBEDC, it is the NERC. They are the supervisors and NERC is also an independent body.” He added.