Minna Residents Issue 90-Day Ultimatum to AEDC Over Poor Electricity Supply

Angry residents of Minna, the Niger State capital, on Thursday staged a street protest against the persistent poor electricity supply by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), giving the company 90 days to improve service delivery or face intensified public action.

The protest, which drew participants from different parts of the city, followed weeks of erratic electricity supply across Minna and several local government areas, with many communities reportedly receiving only about two hours of power daily in the past three weeks.

Residents said the situation has disrupted economic activities and worsened water scarcity in several neighbourhoods of the state capital.

Organised by the Campaign for Democracy and the Capacity Media Trust, the demonstration began at about 9 a.m. at Tunga Roundabout, from where protesters marched to the AEDC Niger Regional Office along UK Bello Road to present their grievances.

Addressing the Niger Chief Business Officer of AEDC, Engineer Sam Odekina, the Coordinator of the Campaign for Democracy, Dr. Abdullahi Jabi, said the protest was aimed at drawing urgent attention to the deteriorating electricity situation in the state.

According to him, the prolonged outages are already taking a toll on businesses and the general well-being of residents.

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“Niger State, which is known as the power state, is now turning into a powerless state. We cannot sit back and continue to watch this happen. The low supply of electricity has crippled our economic activities, heightened insecurity and created opportunities for various forms of criminal activities,” he said.

The protesters warned that continued poor service could trigger wider demonstrations across the state if electricity supply does not improve within the 90-day ultimatum issued to the company.

“AEDC is an investor, and if you love your company, you need to be friendly with your customers. Give us light through your services. Offering quality light means offering quality services. This protest is to show our grievances and to give our demands to you. One of the demands is that we are giving you 90 days to improve and give us steady electricity; if not, we will shut you down.

“It means you are not ready for business. We are customers and also partners. We will not continue to fold our hands and receive poor services without acting,” the group said.

Also speaking, the Head of Capacity Media Trust, Comrade Lanre Sadiq, urged AEDC to provide meters to all customers if the company insists that consumers are not paying their electricity bills.

He said estimated billing remains a major concern for residents and must be discontinued, describing it as exploitative.

Several other stakeholders at the protest also narrated how the prolonged electricity shortage has affected their businesses and daily living.

Responding to the protesters, the Chief Business Officer of AEDC’s Niger Regional Office, Engineer Sam Odekina, assured residents that electricity supply would improve, explaining that the company has recently faced reduced allocation from generating companies.

“Whatever comes to us is what we distribute. Please note that we do not generate electricity; we only distribute it, and we cannot give what we do not have.

“Before now, we were being allocated 60-70 megawatts, but because of the generation issue with gas supply, the allocation was reduced to 46 megawatts daily. But the supply is improving steadily, and we assure you of better days ahead in the area of electricity supply,” he said.

The protest came days after Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, advised residents to explore alternative sources of electricity, noting that AEDC could no longer be relied upon to provide adequate power supply.