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Outage mars Osinbajo’s visit to Minna

By Akin Alofetekun, Minna
15 November 2016   |   2:10 am
Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, at the weekend in Minna, Niger State, had a first-hand experience of the epileptic power supply being experienced by Nigerians ...
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo PHOTO: NAN

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo PHOTO: NAN

Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, at the weekend in Minna, Niger State, had a first-hand experience of the epileptic power supply being experienced by Nigerians, when the hall where he sat with his wife and the host couple, was thrown into darkness for nearly 10 minutes.

The incident almost marred the eighth Minna Choral Society’s yearly festival of song. The occasion had barely begun for 30 minutes when the light went off, throwing the entire hall into disarray and bringing the celebration into a temporary halt.

The blackout occurred when a lead bass vocalist took to the stage and started his renditions. It was a moment of confusion for both security agents and the government officials as the back-up generating set was failing to start.

While the confusion was on, the governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, immediately excused himself from the hall to observe his Islamic prayers.

Some of the dignitaries who spoke to The Guardian expressed disappointment over the embarrassment it caused the Vice President, blaming the organisers for relying solely on Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) for power.

It would be recalled that the Niger State government, two months ago, said it was negotiating with two companies from Israel and the United Arab Emirates to build an alternative power source in the state.

Also at a recent press briefing, the state government had threatened to stop payment of electricity bill to the AEDC, if the persistent outage in the state was not addressed.

Bello said the state, which hosts three hydropower generation stations with 1,600 mega watts capacity each, should not be experiencing such power failures.

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