President Bola Tinubu has directed immediate settlement of the outstanding electricity bill due to the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).
The Presidency in a statement on Tuesday, February 20, 2024, said, the President’s directive followed the reconciliation of accounts between the State House Management and AEDC.
It said, contrary to the AEDC’s initial claim of N923million debt in paid advertorial in newspapers, the State House outstanding bill is N342, 352, 217.46, according to a letter by the management of AEDC to the State House Permanent Secretary dated February 14, 2024.
The statement noted that having reconciled the position to the satisfaction of both parties, the Chief of Staff to the President, Rt Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, has given assurance that the debt would be paid to AEDC before the end of this week.
It said, following the example of the Presidency, the Chief of Staff also urged other MDAs to reconcile their accounts with AEDC and pay their electricity bills.
The Management of AEDC had threatened to disconnect the Presidential Villa, the National Assembly Complex, and 85 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) over failure to pay the outstanding debt of N47.1billion.
AEDC, in its disconnection notice issued on Monday, February 19, 2024, gave the affected customers, especially the MDAs ten days from the date of notice to pay up or be disconnected.
The notice read thus: “The Abuja Electricity Distribution PLC is constrained to do this publication with the details of Government, Ministries, Departments, and Agencies with long outstanding unpaid bills for services rendered to them through the provision of electricity supply in that our previous attempts to make them honour their obligations have not achieved the desired results.
“The relevant MDAs are hereby given notice that the AEDC shall after the expiration of 10 days from the date of this publication, that is, after Wednesday, 28th February 2024, embark on the disconnection of our services to them until they discharge their obligations to us by paying their debts,” the notice read.
