A 31-year-old man identified as Mr. Alison Maduaburochukwu, an indigene of Umuayom Village, Awka, has been arraigned for assaulting an official of the Enugu Electricity Distribution PLC (EEDC).
He was docked before a Magistrate Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State.
The Police prosecutor, Sgt. John Ogbonnaya told the Court, in a two-count charge, that the accused person engaged in assault occasioning harm, against the EEDC official while he was carrying out his legitimate duty.
He said the offence was punishable under Section 258 of the Criminal Code, Cap 36 Vol. II, Revised Laws of Anambra State of Nigeria, 1991 as amended.
Maduaborochukwu was also said to have threatened to kill EEDC officials if they did not leave his compound, an offence punishable under Section 120(b) of the Criminal Code, Cap 36 Vol. II, Revised Laws of Anambra State of Nigeria, 1991 as amended.
The suspect, who pleaded not-guilty was, however, granted bail and the case was adjourned to the 8th of October, 2019 for hearing.
His arraignment was coming few days after the duo of Nonso Amadi and Chibuzor Okafor, were arraigned before Magistrate Court 3, Ogidi, Idemili North Local Government Area, Anambra State for also assaulting a staff of EEDC in Nkpor, Anambra State, while they were going about their legitimate duties.
Speaking on the developments, the Head of Communications, EEDC, Mr. Emeka Ezeh, “We are no longer going to tolerate situations where our staff are being assaulted by anyone while carrying out their daily operations, and the Management of EEDC is ready to follow through any such case and ensure we get justice.”
He went on to recount several occasions where customers released their dogs on staff and situations where they were threatened at gunpoint by indebted customers, insisting that they reconnect them.
“In some cases, these staff are pulled down from the ladder while they are still on the pole and attacked with harmful objects like knife.
“We are concerned about the safety and wellbeing of our staff, especially when they are carrying out their lawful duties and we are ever ready to protect them and prosecute anyone or group that assaults them.
“We commend the Judiciary for the speedy attention given to this matter and are optimistic that this will definitely serve as a deterrent to other people that engage in such act,” he added.
Ezeh encouraged customers to always follow the established redress mechanism approved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), to channel their complaints.
In another development, the EEDC has commissioned a new 11KV feeder in Abakaliki, the capital city of Ebonyi State. The newly constructed feeder, which is known as Azuiyiokwu II, has a route length of 1.3kilometers, and cost EEDC the sum of N8.7 Million to execute.
The Head of Communications, Mr.Ezeh, said the project was in line with EEDC’s continuous effort in strengthening its network for improved service delivery and better customer experience.
Ezeh said that the project was necessitated to address issues of fluctuations on voltage levels in the supply of electricity and other faults resulting to frequent downtime in some parts of the capital city.
It was gathered that in Abakaliki metropolis, EEDC has four 11KV feeders serving the area which were overloaded and overstretched. These feeders are: Azuiyiokwu (main) 11KV, Township 11KV, Udemezue 11KV and Industrial 11KV.
With the construction of Azuiyiokwu II, the four feeders serving the urban centres have been deloaded, thereby balancing the load on the feeders and further translating into improved and reliable power supply to customers within the area.
Other network improvement projects undertaken in Ebonyi state include rehabilitation of EEDC’s portion of the Itigidi 33KV feeder up to Abaomege for improvement of supply to customers at some parts of Abakaliki Local Government Area, Onueke and environs and some parts of Ikwo Local Government Area that feeds from the Itigidi feeder.
Comments