Residents of Alagbado community in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital have staged a protest to the office of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Compqny over persistent blackout in their areas.

They claimed that they have been in blackout for about three years with the electricity distribution company doing virtually nothing to help their situation.

They said this has brought untold hardship to their community.

No official of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company attended to them but officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps mediated and promised to facilitate a meeting between them.

The Senate Committee on Power has named state governments, military formations and educational institutions among those owing electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) huge debts for power consumed.

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Gabriel Suswam stated this during an interactive session with the Minister of State for Power, Abubakar Aliyu, an engineer, and heads of power agencies in Abuja.

The Federal Government claimed that electricity tariffs are the cheapest compared to other countries in the West African sub-region.

It also claimed that Nigeria has the highest rate of defaulting electricity consumers in terms of paying for power consumed.

The Minister of State for Power, Engineer Aliyu, made these assertions in his submission during the session.

He further added that electricity is highly subsidized in Nigeria by the Federal Government which made its cost, to be cheapest across the globe.

He backed up his claim by making comparative analysis of cost of electricity in Nigeria with those of neighbouring countries.

�Cost of electricity in Nigeria is the cheapest across the globe, particularly gas to power, which is highly subsidized.

�For example, while cost of electricity in Nigeria is 15 cent per kilowatt, it is 42 cent in Niger Republic, 23 cent in Republic of Benin, 25 cent in Mali, 28 cent in Senegal, 27 cent in Burkina Faso etc,� he said.

He however lamented that while government is doing everything possible to make electricity affordable and available to Nigerians, many of the ordinary consumers and even critical agencies of government, often neglect to pay their bills.

On his part, the Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Engineer Sulyman Abdulaziz, said high rate of defaults on electricity bills by critical government agencies led to disconnection of Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) in Kaduna and Kano from the National grid recently.

He added that though they have been temporarily reconnected but they must make payment through the affected DisCos to TCN within the 60 days period of grace given.

As a way out of the problem, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Suswam and other members like Senators Adamu Aliero and Yusuf Abubakar Yusuf, suggested that electricity bills of such agencies be deducted at source by the Ministry of Finance.

According to Senator Suswam, one of the complaints made by the DisCos, particularly in Kaduna and Kano, is the huge debt incurred by them from electricity bills payment defaulters.

�The DisCos in their written complaint specifically mentioned military formations across the country, educational institutions, State Governments, among others,� he said.