Members of Edo Civil Society Organizations (EDOCSO’s) in Edo, Ondo, Ekiti and Delta states, on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest calling on the federal government not to renew the operating licence of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) over incompetence.
The protest by members of EDOCSO in BEDC franchise states is coming ahead of the planned performance review of the DISCOs by the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) in December 2019.
The BEDC had on Monday, through its Executive Director, Commercial, Abu Ejoor, called civil society to shelve it planned protest against it as there is no expiration of license of BEDC in December as alleged by EDOCSO.
He alleged that EDOCSO is peddling misinformation, after BEDC instituted court cases against some of its members for energy theft and illegal tampering with electrical fittings.
Speaking with journalists on the protest, the Co-ordinator-General of EDOCSO’s, Omobide Agho, said the protest was to support the planned performance review of the DISCOs which elapses in December, 2019.
“We are calling on the federal government to make the December deadline a reality. BEDC has failed in the distribution of electricity to its franchise states,” he said.
He alleged that “NERC and BPE are not assessing the true reality as regard the performance of BEDC since its takeover in November, 2013.”
The spokesman of the group, Osazee Edigin, said the company has failed in service delivery to its customers in Edo, Delta, Ekiti and Ondo states.
According to him, no amount of blackmail can stop Nigerians from venting their anger against acts that tend to undermine their rights.
