According to sources familiar with the situation, who spoke to SaharaReporters on Friday, EKEDC disconnected electricity supply to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital last Thursday because of outstanding bills.
Students of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos on Friday staged a protest following the disconnection of electricity by Eko Electricity Distribution Plc (EKEDC) due to unpaid bills by the University management.
According to sources familiar with the situation, who spoke to SaharaReporters on Friday, EKEDC disconnected electricity supply to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital last Thursday because of outstanding bills.
The sources further said the school management paid N80 million on Thursday and an additional N50 million on Friday.
It was learnt that after the N130 million payment, there was still an outstanding bill of N145 million.
“Last Thursday, EKEDC disconnected LUTH’s electricity supply due to inability to pay the light bills.
“Then students reached out to the school management and they said they disconnected power supply due to the inability to pay EKEDC’s bill for May. The school management said they paid N80 million on Thursday and N50 million on Friday.
“The school management is now saying the remaining N145 million should be paid by the teaching hospital, LUTH and not college of medicine,” one of the sources said.
“LUTH was using power plant before, then they stopped using it because of the cost and debt. They joined the College of Medicine, University of Lagos to be using power supplied by EKEDC. Now, they have owed so much again,” another source said.
“The combined bill was over N250 million, the college of medicine has paid theirs but the teaching hospital, LUTH has not paid its own part. LUTH said they can’t pay, that they are broke.
“Meanwhile, the bill should be covered jointly by LUTH and the College of Medicine, University of Lagos (CMUL).”
In videos made available to SaharaReporters, students are seen chanting slogans such as “Give us our light, we want light.”
SaharaReporters earlier reported that there was a similar protest against a prolonged period of power outage at the University of Benin, which forced the management to shut down academic activities indefinitely in the school on Thursday.
The students had earlier blocked the Benin-Ore Highway to protest weeks of power outage on campus.
The decision to shut down the institution was communicated in a statement by the school’s Public Relations Officer, Dr Benedicta Ehanire.
He claimed that the decision was hinged on the refusal of the students to shift grounds on their demands.
The students, who had two weeks until their first semester examination, said the situation was severely affecting their preparations.
The students also called for a downward review of transport fare by the UNIBEN shuttle service, which was increased with effect from July 1.
The university was thrown into darkness by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) following the inability to reach agreement over contentious electricity billings.
The electricity bill of the organisation increased from about N80 million to between N200 and N280 million.
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