Large swathes of Adamawa get power after months of darkness due to Boko Haram vandalism

ELECTRICITY has been restored to large swathes of Adamawa State which have been plunged into darkness since last year as a result of the activities of Boko Haram insurgents who destroyed local facilities.

 

In September last year, Boko Haram seized the university town of Mubi in Adamawa State and in line with its ideology, the terrorists burnt down everything that appeared western including schools, churches, banks, power plants, sports facilities and government buildings. Since then, large parts of Adamawa State have been without power supply as the raging war between Boko Haram and the Nigerian military destroyed infrastructure like transformers and electricity cables.

 

This week, however, the Yola Electricity Distribution Company has restored power supply to Mubi, Gombi and Garkida towns in Adamawa State. Baba-Umar Mustafa, the new acting managing director of the company, said that restoring power to the areas was capital intensive due to the level of damage.

 

Mr Mustapha added that the company needed the federal government’s intervention to restore electricity to Michika, Gwoza, Bama and parts of Maiduguri and Yobe states as the company’s revenue was not enough to cater for that. He said that although the company had been taken over by the government, it was still being run privately without any subvention.

 

He urged consumers to reciprocate the recent improvement in the services of the company, particularly the increase in power supply, by settling their bills promptly to sustain it. “We now have 18 to 20 hours electricity in the zone for the past three months and we hope customers will appreciate by promptly paying their bills,” Mr Mustapha added.