Okpebholo Meets Protesters, Vows To Break Power Firm’s Monopoly

Edo State governor, Monday Okpebholo, has vowed to break the monopolistic tendencies of Benin Electricity Distribution Plc to ensure an even distribution of power to the state’s residents.

He disclosed this when he made a stopover at the take-off point for the protest, the “Mass Action Against BEDC Oppressions,” organised by the Organised Edo Against BEDC Oppressions at the Benin City Museum.

Okpebholo said that if more persons were allowed to enter the business of power distribution, like the telecommunication companies, it would ensure efficiency, as all would strive to put in their best to serve their customers better.

“I want to let you know that the only way we can fight them is to bring stakeholders into this business of distribution. I want to let you know, we’ll break the monopoly. That monopoly does not belong to one man. So, how do we do it? We have to operate in the same way telecom operates, bringing different stakeholders, bringing different companies.

“We are going to have a meeting in my office tomorrow. We are bringing stakeholders together so we can talk with them and see how we can bring in more investors into the electricity distribution business. So, when that one is done, all of us in the state will have enough power supply,” Okpebholo said.

The governor, who said he had come to join the BEDC’s protest, admitted that everyone in the state was being short-changed by the company and that this must not continue.

“I was trying to find out what the issues are, and I was told that you are protesting. I said yes, we are all youth. Are we not? I have come to join the protest. When we talk about shortchanging Edo people, it’s all of us. Our parents in the villages, my brother in the city, and all of us who are standing here. Is that not so? he asked rhetorically.

He told the protesters to send delegates to attend the meeting with stakeholders tomorrow at Government House, where issues relating to the BEDC would be discussed.

Earlier, Comrade Emmanuel Ogbidi, president of the Network of Civil Society Organisations of Nigeria (NOCSON), told the governor that residents of the state were tired of paying for darkness and of overbilling by BEDC.