- Deplore KEDCO’s alleged negligence
Residents of Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, have raised the alarm over the imminent danger posed to people’s lives and property by dilapidated and collapsed electricity installations belonging to the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company.
Representatives from different quarters of the state capital, who spoke with our correspondent in Gusau, noted with dismay how the company had allegedly continued to feign ignorance about collapsed high tension cables and other electricity wires at different locations, resulting in traffic jams.
Spokespersons of the aggrieved residents, Alhaji Lawali Abdullahi and Mallam Ibrahim Kaura, alleged that many animals and livestock had already been electrocuted by the collapsed electricity installations.
They, therefore, warned that if no urgent action was taken by KEDCO concerning the collapsed electricity installations, human lives, too, could be endangered.
“Many animals have been electrocuted by this recklessness and we are afraid it can extend to humans,” they said.
The residents’ spokesmen accused the staff of KEDCO of negligence, saying that they no longer made any effort to cut off tree branches along the routes of the electricity cables, “because they are more interested in collecting bills.
“If not because of the erratic power supply, we would have recorded many human deaths by now.”
They claimed that they had gone to the Zamfara State office of KEDCO several times to complain, even
before the rainy season began, but “no one is ever ready to talk to us.”
According to them, “The company should be ready to take full responsibility in the event that any unfortunate incident happens.”
Our correspondent, who went round the state capital, observed that many of the electricity installations had become dilapidated as many of the poles had been broken and the cables torn by the elements of weather.
Efforts to speak with KEDCO officials in the state proved abortive as no one was ready to comment on the matter.
