Youth in Niger protest incessant power outage in Minna

Niger youths on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest to the regional office of the Abuja Electricity Development Company, AEDC in Minna and the state House of Assembly, warning that any further outage will no longer be tolerated.
The protesters numbering over five thousand with various placards having inscriptions like ‘AEDC must go, No light in Minna, Bring back our light, ‘We say no to darkness and so on, vowed that, if light goes off anymore between now and January, 2017, the Abuja Electricity Development Company, AEDC, will also go off the state.
Speaking, the Convener, Comrade Mohammed Aliyu Mohammed said “if AEDC plans to frustrate Nigerlites, then citizens of Niger state have learnt to make things unbearable for them.
“We have told them that we need steady light for 24 hours, prepaid meters must be given to all houses. Niger state as the power generating state deserves to have steady light since we have three major dams otherwise, we will continue to advocate and fight for our right.
“For more than two years now Niger state has been in darkness. The ‘AEDC’ promised that there will be steady power supply till the December ending.”
Earlier at the AEDC regional office officer, the group had made its demand known where they met with the regional manager Engr. Akubuko Abednego who assured that there will be improvement as measures are being taken already.
Akubuko said: “We understand how you feel, but I can assure you that I will convey your message to the head office and between now and December ending light will improve.”
While addressing protesters in front of the state House of Assembly Complex, the Speaker, Hon. Ahmed Marafa said the darkness and power outage have affected all sectors and that the demands of the protesters will be looked into.
According to him “it is unimaginable for a state like Niger that houses three hydro power stations to be in want of power supply. I met with the leadership of the power company and they promised that there is a change of leadership and measures are being put in place to ensure that power is given for atleast 8 hours daily.”