Wire Abandoned By Electricity Workers Electrocutes 15-Year-Old Girl

A 15-year-old resident of Ishaga Road in the Idi-Araba area of Lagos State, Afusat Musa, has been electrocuted by a live wire that was partially disconnected by officials of Eko Electricity Distribution Company.
About four officials were said to have stormed the neighbourhood penultimate Tuesday, around 2pm, and disconnected wires from houses, whose residents had yet to pay their bills.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the wire cut from a storey building was, however, abandoned on the roof of a mosque near the building, while the other end was still attached to an electric pole. Moments after power was restored on the fateful day, Afusat, a Junior Secondary School three pupil, who lived in a house next to the mosque, was electrocuted.

She was said to be returning from an errand at about 7pm and touched the metal pole of an aerial

mounted beside her house. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was confirmed dead on arrival.

A brother of the deceased, Aminu Musa, told PUNCH Metro that the manager of the Idi-Araba office of the EKEDC visited the community after the incident was reported at the Itire Police Station and the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency.

Aminu added that the manager denied knowledge of the workers’ operation in the area on the fateful day. He said:

 “Immediately Afusat died, we went to the Itire Police Station. LASEPA was also informed about the incident. The following day, LASEPA officials, the electricity workers and their manager visited us. The manager denied sending his men to disconnect wires.”

Afusat’s mother, Zainab, a trader, said the workers eventually admitted complicity in the occurrence when people confronted them, adding that the case was not properly handled because the family was not influential. She said:

“We initially thought it was our wire that caused the electrocution, but it persisted after my daughter died. It was somebody who rushed in to tell us that a live wire was abandoned on the roof of the mosque, which touched our house’s roof. The workers initially denied that they did come to our area for the operation. But when people insisted they were the ones, they apologised, saying the wire was mistakenly abandoned. If Afusat was from a rich family would the case die like that? They did not even come in to sympathise with us; they stayed outside.”

The deceased’s father, Alhaji Muhammed Musa, who described her as obedient, said her death was caused by the nonchallant attitude of the electricity officials. He said:

 “Many wires were disconnected that day and we had to settle them to fix them back. I paid them N1,500. A wire was not re-fixed because the residents of the house did not settle them. It was carelessness on their part to have abandoned the wire that was not disconnected from the pole. When there was electricity later that day, people started complaining of shocks but we did not know where it came from until Afusat died.”

The Chairman of the community development association, Mr. Rasheed Bakare, said prior to the incident, several invitations had been sent to the electricity company for a discussion on the poor state of electric poles in the area, but were ignored. He said:

“Before this incident, we have written letters to EKEDC, inviting them for deliberation on lingering issues relating to electricity in this community, but they did not honour our invitations. There are cases of falling wires and illegal pole climbing, among others, which we wanted to discuss with them.”

The Lagos State police spokesperson, DSP Joe Offor, said efforts were on to get the statements of the workers complicit in the pupil’s death. He said:

“The DPO informed Lagos State of the incident and invited the concerned workers to the station, but they have yet to honour the invitation. Whenever our men go to their office, they are always told that the workers have gone out. We are still making efforts to ensure that they come to the station.”

Calls made to the line of the spokesperson for EKEDC, Mr, Godwin Idemudia, rang out. He had also yet to reply to a text message sent to his number as of press time, PUNCH reports.

FG Raises Alarm Over Dwindling Electricity Supply, Power Plants Shutdown

The Federal Government on Friday in Abuja raised alarm over dwindling and epileptic electricity supply across the country.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Mr Godknows Igali, made this known after a meeting with Vice-President Namadi Sambo to State House correspondents in Abuja.
Igali, and Prof. Chinedu Nebo, Minister of Power, had briefed Sambo on the state of power generation, transmission and distribution in the country.
\
He said the ongoing strike by Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas had further worsened the power supply situation.

The workers were protesting the transfer of the operatorship of the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 42 to two indigenous companies, claiming the move would affect the fortunes of NPDC and its staff.

“With the strike which has gone on for one or two days there is dramatic turn as of this afternoon we have gone down for the all time low to 1,327 megawatts.

“So, if you look at it from 4,800 there is dramatic turn, the loss is terrible,’’ Igali said.

He said as at 12 noon May 22, 2015, Utorogu, CHEVRON ORE DO, OB EN gas plants were all shutdown while UGHELI and CNL ESCRAVOS were already isolated.

He said, “on the eastern axis Shell Gas, ALAKIRI has also been shutdown. This has led to the several power plants being stranded and shutdown.

“This includes EGBIN, OLORUNSHOGO I & 11, OMOTOSHO 1& 11, GEREGU I & 11, IHONVOR and SAPELE (NIPP) on the western axis and ALAOJI on the eastern end.’’

According to him, besides, pipeline vandalism which has continued to have very negative impact on the power supply situation in the country, the ongoing strike by the labour unions in the oil and gas sector has added additional toll.

“The overall effect is that power supply which had started picking up steadily since the beginning of the week following repairs of various vandalised portions of the ELP Line and the Trans-Forcados Gas Pipelines, has fallen to all-time-unprecedented low of 1,327m was at 1.00 p.m. May22, 2015.

He, therefore, warned that “situation could get worse if the strike continues’’.
Igali expressed the hope that the ongoing discussion between the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and, the labour unions, would end amicably.

“Indeed, it is hoped the labour unions will help restore supply of gas to the power plants even while negotiation are ongoing.’’(NAN)

Read More: http://www.kevindjakporblog.com/2015/05/fg-raises-alarm-over-dwindling.html#ixzz3awg27jgT
Follow us: @kevindjakpor on Twitter | KevinDjakporBlog on Facebook

Atiku To Buhari: Reverse PHCN Privatisation

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has advised the incoming government of Gen. Muhammad Buhari (Rtd), to will the political power and reverse the current privatisation exercise of the Power sector for Nigeria to move on.

Atiku made this statement at the 36th Kaduna International Trade Fair’s Seminar organised by the Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture (KADCCIMA).

He said the failure experienced in the power sector of the economy has been due to the successive government’s approach in tackling the problem in the sector.

The former Vice President recalled that the Obasanjo-led administration which sunk several billions of United State Dollars into the sector, took the wrong approach in tackling the power sector but failed to address the problem of the power sector because the government took a long-term measure rather than a short-term approach.

In response to why private investors were unable to collect licenses to build private refineries during the Obasanjo/Atiku administration, he said that in his eight years as Vice President to ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, he knew nothing about what happened in that sector as Obasanjo doubled as the Minister of Petroleum Resources.

“During our administration, there was no transparency and accountability in the oil and gas industry. There was a time we were handed a Ghana-must-go memo on the oil and gas and asked by the president for our input and I refused to support it”, he added.

According to him, President Goodluck Jonathan also took a wrong step in solving the Power sector problem which has accounted for the current epileptic power supply in the country.

“Japan, Singapore never depended on oil but human capital development and today they are ranked among the world best economy,” he said.