Friday, December 6, 2013

BEDC disconnects electricity supply to Benin Airport


Benin Electricity Distribution Company, BEDC, has disconnected electricity supply to  Benin Airport over unpaid accumulated bills, even as a Benin- based legal practitioner, Olayiwola Afolabi, petitioned the Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah, over the deplorable condition of the airport runway, claiming that the lives of passengers were at risk whenever planes were landing.
According to Afolabi, “the runway is so bad that each time planes want to land, the pilot and passengers undergo great difficulties and this is not to play with the lives of Nigerians. In view of the above, we urge you, as Minister of Aviation, to put all necessary machineries in place to address this problem.”
However, Vanguard gathered that the power supply to the airport was disconnected last week.
The arrival and departure halls, were yesterday, filled with passengers, who were sweating profusely as the place was stuffy. Most of the passengers were seen fanning themselves with newspapers as all air conditioners in the halls and adjourning offices were switched off as the electricity generating plants could not power them
A staff of the airport who spoke on condition of anonymity told journalists that power supply to the airport was cut over a week ago by the electricity distribution company, even though about N2 million was being paid monthly to the power company.
He said: “The management pays between N1.8 million and N2 million every month, yet they came to disconnect us last week. We have been running on generators and they are not powerful enough to carry the air conditioners.”
Efforts to reach the airport manager, Mr. Sunday Ayodele, failed as calls to his mobile phone could not go through.
But when contacted, the Public Relations Officer of Benin Electricity Company, Mr. Curtis Nwiadei, confirmed that power supply to the airport was disconnected over unpaid bill of N4.3 million, adding, “that is why they were disconnected.”
Recall that a few months ago, Edo State Board of Internal Revenue Board sealed off the office of the airport manager over unpaid taxes deducted from workers’ salaries for several years without remittances to the state government.
culled from Vanguard

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