N200m Electricity Debt Puts Unilag In Darkness

UNILAG Raises School Fees For Undergraduates

The University of Lagos (Unilag) is experiencing a blackout after it was accused of owing N200 million to Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC).

However, the institution’s management has denied the claims by the power distribution company, stating that it had paid its dues, Tribune said.

Unilag’s spokesperson, Nonye Oguama, explained that the distribution company brought outrageous monthly electricity bills.

According to Tribune, Unilag’s management said it had paid a total of N1.123 billion to EKEDC over a 17-month period starting from January 2020.

The spokesperson said that the monthly electricity bill from EKEDC saw an upward surge from N79 million in February to N85 million in March.

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She said, “So, in October, when activities started coming up again, we had N56 million bill and it dropped again in November to N29 million before it skyrocketed to N81 million in December when the electricity tariff was increased generally in the country by the power distribution company. 

“Since then, [EKEDC] has been bringing huge bill every month; N84 million in January; N79 million in February and it rose to N85 million in March when our students started coming back to hostels; N88 million in April and jumped up to as high as N181 million in May and came down again to N118 million in June,” he said. 

“So, in the period covering 17 months, we paid a sum of N1.123 billion on electricity and the amount is just too high for the university to cope with,” Ogundipe stressed, adding that the bills are just too high for the university to maintain. 

“Even companies that are making profit cannot find it easy to be coughing up such a huge amount of money for electricity every month.”