Power Outage: Protesters Chase away SSG in Niger

By Laleye Dipo

Protesters on Monday chased away the Secretary to the Niger State Government (SSG), Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmed Matane, who came to plead with them to stop their barricade of major roads in the state capital, Minna.

Hundreds of the protesters carrying placards with different captions had blocked the roads especially the ever busy Minna-Bida road causing serious gridlock.

The protesters, mostly young men, were demonstrating against the epileptic power supply in Minna and environs by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC.

Some of the captions on the placards read: “Enough is enough”, “No to estimated billing”, “No to 2 hours of light”, “If AEDC cannot give us light, they should pack and go”, and “We no go gree.”

At the moment, most communities in Minna are not getting more than six hours of light daily — three hours in the morning and three hours in the night.

The SSG, who came to plead with the protesting youths, was chased away because they wanted to talk to the governor directly.

“We don’t want to see you, we want to talk to the person we voted for, we did not vote for you,” the youths shouted as the SSG beat a retreat.

The councillor representing Minna South Ward, Mallam Aminu Ladan, who spoke with newsmen, said: “There is zero response from the authority on the issue of electricity in the state. Our protest is peaceful and responsible.”

However, the police at about 1.00pm forcefully dispersed the protesters, making movements into and outside Minna to commence though, at a snail speed.

Government and the AEDC officials have failed to react to the development.