The Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) said the blackout at the Police Area Command, Adesuwa Police Station and Zone 5 Headquarters in Benin City has nothing to do with the over N151 million owed it by the Edo State Police Command.
BEDC Director of Public Affairs, Mr Curtis Nwadei who stated this during an interactive session with journalists in Benin City blamed the blackout on a fault on the transformer that supplies power to the Command, and the vandalization of another.
He stated: “the much I can say about that is that the Edo State Police Command is not disconnected. What happened was that the transformer feeding them is bad and because of the debt, we can’t raise money to repair or replace the transformer.
“The Command alone is owing us N48, 392, 675million. So, I wonder how we are expected to raise money and invest in such a place where we are not getting anything in return.
“We visited the Commissioner of Police on this issue and we told him our predicament that we don’t have the money to repair the transformer. So, it is very wrong for anyone to say that anybody disconnected the Command. You can go and look at the transformer to verify whether we really disconnected them,” he stated.
He further stated that the Zone 5 Command was also a debtor.
“At Zone 5 too, the transformer was vandalized and again, it’s same old story. Zone 5 alone and the barracks are owing us N103, 000,000. You can imagine what it’s like; working for a place where we don’t get anything in return.
“How do you want us to pay salaries, maintain vehicles when we are so heavily indebted? We buy this energy and we pay the supplier of energy.”