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The Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Taoreed Lagbaja, says that corpses in mortuaries in some barracks of the Nigerian Army are decomposing over an ongoing power outage.
Lagbaja recently disclosed this when he paid the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, to seek intervention in its N42 billion debt owed to Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, AEDC.
He appealed for the liquidation of the electricity debt of the Nigerian Army following the disconnection of various Army barracks and cantonments by power distribution companies.
Lagbaja, in a statement issued in Abuja by the media aide to the power minister, Bolaji Tunji, said the main reason for his visit was to discuss the consequences of the power outage in Army formations and the way forward.
He was quoted as saying, “Debt owed is loaded on the meter, so no matter the amount of credit we put, the meters pick it automatically. Corpses in the Army mortuaries are decomposing and the owners of the corpses are protesting.”
According to the statement, “he (Lagbaja) further stated that the army couldn’t raise funds to pay the entire debt, as he solicited liquidation as was done in 2005 by the then President.”
“Debt owed is loaded on the meter, so no matter the amount of credit we put, the meters pick it automatically. Corpses in the Army mortuaries are decomposing and the owners of the corpses are protesting.”
According to the statement, “he (Lagbaja) further stated that the army couldn’t raise funds to pay the entire debt, as he solicited liquidation as was done in 2005 by the then President.”
Responding, Adelabu assured the Nigerian Army of his readiness to dialogue with the power distribution companies to relieve the Nigerian Army of its electricity debt burden amounting to N42bn.
He reiterated the importance of liquidity and funding in the power sector, adding that the Debt could not be written off.
Adelabu told his guest that he would intervene to restructure the debt payment if there was assurance of regular payments by the Nigerian Army.
“The fundamental issues in the power sector value chain could be traced back to the last 50 years and a government that is barely eight months old cannot use a magic wand to proffer a solution. There is a saying that you won’t know what is happening in Rome until you get to Rome,” he stated.
The minister said power outages were not peculiar to army barracks but a national issue, adding that the Discos and Gencos were profit-oriented organisations.
“We can only plead with them to adopt a repayment plan monthly instead of embedding the whole debt in their meter,” Adelabu stated.
Recall that AEDC in February 20 issued a disconnection notice to Presidential Villa and 86 other Ministries Departments and Agencies of the Government over electricity bill to the tune of N47 billion.
The power firm had threatened to disconnect the MDAs in 10 days should they fail to pay their debts.
Meanwhile, the president had directed immediate settlement of the debt.
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