Northern Elders flay FG over 10-month power outage in Maiduguri

Elders from the Northern region have accused the Federal Government of neglecting Borno State capital, Maiduguri, which has been without power from the national grid for 10 months.

Daily Trust had reported how suspected members of the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters destroyed several electricity power lines, thereby cutting off Maiduguri metropolis.

The setback came barely one month after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) commenced the building of a gas plant to provide electricity to the state in the North East sub-region.

Reacting to the continued outage shortly after a meeting led by its chairman, Ango Abdullahi, the elders under the aegis of Northern Elders Forum (NEF), asked the government to reverse the situation at all cost.

In a communique issued at the end of the meeting which was signed by its spokesman, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, they also berated President Buhari-led government over worsening security situation in the country.

“The Forum joins the nation in its outrage over the fact that Maiduguri, Borno State capital has been without power from the national grid for ten months, and is alarmed by signs that its population could be forced to resign to living with this additional assault on their lives and livelihood.”

“This situation must be reversed at all cost. The planned closure of Internally-Dispersed Persons (IDPs) camps should be carefully considered so that it does not place more victims in avoidable peril,” the communique partly read.

The NEF also said if labeling bandits as terrorists will substantially improve the capacity of the Nigerian state to eliminate this expanding scourge, it is in support of it without reservation.

It added, “In any case, all lawful options in bringing this menace to an end must be pursued. Measures put in place to contain its spread should be diligently monitored and evaluated, and those that merely worsen the condition of living of law-abiding population should be removed.

“Governments should be sensitive to the possibility of severe food shortage in the next few months in many Northern communities, in addition to escalating cost of living which will combine to confront the poor with intolerable conditions of living.”