*Kaduna Electric cuts power supply to institution
By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
Following days of blackout in the entire institution following its inability to pay its electricity bills, the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, has cried out that it is presently impossible to pay the 100 million Naira monthly bills requested by Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company.
ABU expressed this in a special bulletin issued by the Public Affairs Directorate, Office of the Vice Chancellor, sighted by our correspondent yesterday.
“To say the least, the university, at the moment, cannot foot the outstanding bills of over N100 million every month with its yearly average overhead funding of about only N150 million.
“The university management has since written the Federal Government to inform it of the institution’s lingering power situation, and it is currently in
contact with the relevant government officials over the matter,” the bulletin said.
According to the special bulletin titled, “A CALL FOR UNDERSTANDING” the university management sought the community’s understanding on the development.
“The University Management wishes to call on members of the University community for understanding over the current power outage being experienced all over the university, as it is doing everything possible to resolve the problem.
“It has been five days now since the disconnection of the electricity supply the university only after payment of over N40 million to the service providers,” it stated.
The bulletin noted that the stakeholders meeting on power supply held on Tuesday April ,11, 2023 was indeed part of the efforts to address, in the long
term, the university’s electricity crisis.
“However, the university management would want to express its profound appreciation to members of the university community for the endurance
despite the inestimable hardship and disruptions caused by the disconnection,” it concluded.
The highly respected ABU has as its mission, “To advance the frontiers of learning and break new grounds, through teaching, research and the dissemination of
knowledge of the highest quality, to establish and foster national and international integration, development and the promotion of
African traditions and cultures; to produce high-level human power and enhance capacity building through retraining, in order to
meet the needs and challenges of the catchment area, Nigeria and the rest of the world.”
