Stop attacks on BEDC, group warns Obaseki, others

Some Civil Society Organisations under the umbrella of Transparency Advocacy for Development Initiative (TADI), has threatened to institute legal actions against the governor of Edo state, Godwin Obaseki and some groups over their incessant attacks on the operation of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company.

Addressing a World Press Conference in Abuja on Wednesday, TADI’s National Convener, Comrade Solomon Adodo, said Governor Godwin Obaseki should not politicized the issue of power distribution in the state.

According to the group, “we shall resist this evil at all costs in the best interest of sustainable business practice in order not to ward of future investors and / or frustrate the gains made thus far in the power sector”.

“If we do not get appropriate feedback within seven days of this notice, we shall be left with no other option but to embark on peaceful procession to these offices for the sake of sanity in our power sector”, the group stressed.

TADI said that as stakeholders, the federal government has representation on the board of respective DISCOs and it is totally at its discretion to appoint whoever she deems it fit to represent her interest in the DISCOs, saying further that “it is not the DISCOs that determine who federal government appoints as her representative contrary to what some naysayers would have us believe in the case of BEDC”.

“It is empirical to note that the respective DISCOs can only distribute the amount of power sold to them by NBET based on the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) allocation allotted each DISCO. Thus contrary to wrong assertions, DISCOs are not allotted power based on what their respective states generate but as determined by NBET using the MYTO allocation system. It added.

TADI disclosed that it has identified with “patriotic disenchantment the consistent, brazen and expertly contrived attempts by certain unpatriotic elements to sabotage the dexterous efforts of BEDC to supply power to Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti States.

These findings, according to TADI indicated that the entities have launched media and physical attacks on BEDC and primarily bent on destroying the corporate reputation of BEDC on one hand and discredit the federal government’s roadmap for power stability.