Lagos Assembly takes battle to DISCOs, demands improved power supply

Power Distributing Companies, DISCOs, in Lagos has been tasked by the Lagos State House of Assembly to ensure Lagos residents enjoy considerable power supply, within and after the COVID-19 pandemic period.

This charge came from a joint committee of the House made up of Committee on Energy and Mineral resources and Information, Security and Strategy that were given the task of oversight visit to Eko and Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company to ensure regular power supply to the people in this period of stay at home.

The committee is chaired by Hon. Folajimi Mohammed who is chairman of energy and mineral resources committee.

Speaking to correspondents after the visit to the DISCOs, Mohammed said there was need to ensure the peoples comfort while observing the stay at home order through steady power supply.

He said the lockdown occasioned by COVID-19 has caused a lot of discomfort to constituents, “to this end we were asked to come and visit the DISCOs and find out issues as to why there has been insufficient supply of electricity to most parts of Lagos State.

“One thing was pertinent about the meeting, which was that they had accepted and admitted the flaws, however, we need to look at this holistically that there are different value chains within the sphere of the departments, so at some point, we can’t necessarily put most of the blame on the DISCOs which is what has been said.

“However, what we have asked that they do is to give us a road map as to how they want to ensure more effective distribution to the people.

“I am glad that Ikeja DISCO has honoured that request saying that they would appoint people who would directly relate with us at the House of Assembly for onward transfer to our constituents.

“We can’t but appeal to our constituents to be calm this time around, we understand these are tough times and from the reports and what we have been shown they have actually generated almost to their capacity if not more, however they still have challenges which are the Infrastructure so we need to understand that without the infrastructure in place most things would not be able to be done.

“So I would only try to appeal to the people and all constituents to kindly bear with them as they have been looking at the best way to profer solutions to this hardship.

Hon. Tunde Braimoh, Chairman on Information, Security and Strategy noted that it is of essence for the general public to own the available infrastructure as the energy theft is causing people a lot of needless stress.

“Government is about the people we are not just there for aggrandisement or grandstanding, we must be purposefully useful and effective to the people that we serve.

“The supply of electricity power is one of the basic yearnings of our people because electricity remains the most important innovation of humanity in the last one thousand years and nobody can joke with the importance of electricity.

“That is why we have to come out to interact with the EKODISCO having been inundated with a series of complaints about no electricity supply, excessive billings, outright disconnection and all of that and we need to be more sympathetic or empathetic to the plight of the people in this pandemic situation because people cannot go out to work, economic power is low and of course staying at home too should be as comfortable as possible and without electricity that will be a mirage.

The Commissioner for Energy and Mineral resources, Mr Olalere Odusote who was present at the two parleys enjoined Lagosians to comply with the stay at home order and remain safe, assuring that all their issues with power supply are been handled seriously by the state government.

“The people should be rest assured that the state government would continue to work with the electricity distribution companies, to ensure that their power supply is not adversely affected by any actions that the government is taking during the pandemic, especially due to restriction of movement.