By Nnabugwu Chizoba
 |
| Steve Aluko Daniels (With the Mic) |
A total breakdown or collapse of economic
activities in Jos, the Plateau State capital, was averted, on the 16th day of
February, 2016 owing to the maturity exhibited by the leadership of a Coalition
of Civil Society Organizations and the electricity consumers in Plateau State.
The above, became possible when
the coalition leadership, who had put everything within her disposal to mobilize
electricity consumers in Jos and beyond, for a massive street wide protest
against perceived ill treatment by the Jos Electricity Distribution Company,
JEDC, decided to change the methodology and strategy adopted in the execution
of the protest, at the last minute.
From the reports gathered by this
medium, the leadership of the coalition, at the last count fought had to
empress it on the group, for a light protest, which according to the leadership
will involve the selection of representatives from many of the groups that formed
the coalition as against everybody participating in the protest, a call we
gathered was to avoid closing down business activities in the city of Jos.
According to the report, this call was met with very stiff opposition, since
many people preferred a situation where economic activities in the state
capital and beyond was paralyzed, as a way of pressing home their point.
Most private medical
practitioners, Pharmaceutical shop owners, barbing salon owners and hair
dressers, tailors, provision shop owners, business center operators, laundry
shop owners, Private school owners, house wives, law chamber operators,
students of tertiary institutions, market men and women, drivers, tricycle
operators, and lecturers, who had planned seriously for what many people referred
to as mother of all protests, but were denied the opportunity to file out for
the protest, that would have led to a total breakdown of business activities in
Jos.
The ingenuity, maturity and trust,
that all had for the leadership and organizers of the protest, among them a University
Professor, from the Electrical department of the University of Jos, in the
person of Prof. Kwaha, ensured that they (the leadership), eventually had its
way, for they were able to convince their followers, to shelf their earlier
approach, in favour of the later.
Those who spoke to this medium,
among the protesters on the issue, claimed that:
“The authorities of JEDC, after
numerous promises, looked the other way while we continued to suffer various
degrees of injustice and high handedness of the electricity service providers,
the JEDC, hence this protest”, they reacted.
By our investigation, the protest
was welcomed by the residents of Jos, the Plateau State capital. Some of them while
speaking with this medium had this to say “it is disheartening to note that we
pay for darkness. Who will ever imagine that JEDC, will subject us to a
situation, where we pay for darkness? Let me tell you this exploitation is too
much. Enough is enough. We can longer bear it”.
Among speakers at the protest was
Mr. Steve Aluko Daniels, a renowned Civil Rights activist and a Director with
the Civil Liberty Organization (CLO), also a leading voice on human rights issues
and good governance, who adopted the questioning technique, at the beginning of
his speech, asking:
“What is making the states covered by JEDC pay very high
tariff. “Where are the meters?” Continuing, Aluko said “We want meter, but the
meter we are calling for is not the ones that are not calibrated. We want
access to safe, adequate, secure and affordable energy. Readjust and stop
exploiting us”.
Contributing to the agitation, Comrade Gad Shamaki, said “the
company (JEDC), has no human face”. He reiterated the fact that “Nigerians
should only pay for services rendered by the company, not more”. In his opening
remark at the protest, Shamaki spoke without mincing words, saying:
We will no longer pay for
services that we did not use
We cannot use our money to pay
for light that we did not consume
We cannot use our money to pay
for meters that are not functioning well
We cannot pay for government
agencies that are not paying their bills
We need to have more
communication taking place
You must learn to talk and
discuss with the people
The era of impunity is over
Prof. Kwaha of the University of
Jos, who also spoke during the protest gave a technical insight into the issues,
when in a cool, persuasive but indeed incisive manner, enlightened the
protesters and all other electricity consumers, on the nagging issues,
especially as they relate to the alleged un-calibrated meter, being distributed
by the JEDC. In his explanation he pointed out thus:
“The new meters being installed
by JEDC are reading even leakages. The meter reads earth leakages, which means
the meter reads even when you are not using the electricity”.
On further inquiry, we gathered
from the protesters and the University Professor, that even when all the
appliances and energy consuming gadgets, are switched off, the meter continues
to read, as if you are consuming the energy. A practical example, according to
them is: switch off everything, take your reading, and after sometime, come
back to take another reading, then it becomes evidently clear, that the reading
continued even when you switched of all energy consuming points, including lights
and sockets in the building.
According to the protesters, the
meters are fake.
In his reaction, while receiving
the protest letter presented by the leadership of the group, Engr. Nakande who
represented the management of JEDC, assured the protesters that their demands
would be looked into by the management and necessary action taken when
necessary. He also informed the protesters that management was already
discussing some of the issues, with the leadership of the group.
As if to demonstrate the
willingness of his management to resolve the issues soonest, Engr. Nakande
said:
“We would be having a stake
holders meeting on Tuesday next week to discuss some of your demands”,
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