Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, on Monday, brokered peace between the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, and the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) over power outage at the hospital.
The development brought to an end a 102-day power outage at the nation’s first teaching hospital, with the distribution company assuring that it would restore electricity supply to some sections of the hospital within the next 24 to 48 hours.
The decision formed part of resolutions reached after a closed-door meeting held at the hospital, which lasted about three hours, between the minister, Managing Director of IBEDC, Engr. Francis Agoha, and Chief Medical Director of the teaching hospital, Professor Jesse Otegbayo.
The trio, and the top management teams of the institutions, led by the minister, later addressed the press at the boardroom of the teaching hospital.
However, while the meeting was ongoing, a group of students staged a peaceful protest to express their displeasure over the prolonged darkness that had enveloped the hospital.
The protesters, from the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, who carried placards and sang solidarity songs, demanded immediate restoration of power supply to all the sections of the hospital.
The students said the situation had become unbearable as medical, learning and commercial activities had been paralysed.
They added that some patients had been withdrawn from the hospital to private facilities due to lack of appropriate medical attention.
Adelabu, while addressing the stakeholders at the press briefing, described the power issue at the hospital as a national embarrassment, assuring that all the issues relating to the lingering power crisis have been resolved.
He said the huge debt being owed by the hospital was traceable to some factors, which included sharp practices, unseparated accounts, dilapidated infrastructure, and equipment.
The minister decried the previous practice of lumping electricity bills, saying all the sectors, including the clinical services, College of Medicine, and the commercial outlets within the teaching hospital must operate different accounts.
He maintained that if all the parts were on their own, the electricity bill of the hospital would not be more than it could pay comfortably every month.
According to him, “The power crisis in the UCH has gotten to an embarrassing level, not just for the hospital or IBEDC but also to the federal government.
“UCH is the country’s premier teaching hospital and it is embarrassing to have the hospital in darkness for that long.
“The issue is on customer-vendor crisis, which we expect that would have been resolved. I have intervened in times past and the hospital was reconnected to the grid but the issue would come back again.
“The federal government is not comfortable with the current crisis between UCH and IBEDC.”
He added that similar issues had occurred in some other health facilities in the past and did not take so long to be resolved, and stated that the development necessitated his intervention.
Adelabu said the federal government had enlisted both UCH and University of Ibadan as beneficiaries of a 50 megawatts solar mini-grid, which will be completed within the first and second quarters of the year.
He added that it had also been agreed that IBEDC would work with the electrical department of UCH to ensure electricity audit and proper usage while also tackling energy theft and abuse.
Adelabu stated, “It is quite embarrassing to have the hospital in total darkness for so long. I have intervened in the matter several times but the problem still lingers.
“Other teaching hospitals, including the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), University of Calabar, Maidiguri and Abuja, that had similar cases were able to surmount through the federal government’s intervention with solar mini-grid.
“A similar thing will be done at the University of Ibadan and the College of Medicine. The federal government will install 50 megawatts solar mini-grid, which will be completed in the first and second quarters of the year.
“Also, while this is going on, the IBEDC has agreed to restore electricity to some sections of the hospital within 48 hours while N283 million will be settled on an instalment basis.
“The management of the UCH has agreed on the immediate settlement of the debt on an instalment payment, which is going to be between 8-12 months, in addition to the current bill.”
The minister added, “Henceforth, each of the major consumers will be responsible for the payment of their electricity bills, as against the previous practice of lumping bills, while separate transformers will be provided.
“It was also agreed that all the sections of the UCH must be properly metered to guard against sharp practices. The issue of fraud and power theft will not be condoned. It is an economic crime. Whoever is caught should be reported to the EFCC.
“We have seen the results, likewise the consequence of the ignoble act. I have advised the CMD to report such incidents to the EFCC. Some banks were caught red-handed bypassing connections. That is a fraud.”
Agoha, in his remarks, confirmed the gradual restoration of electricity to sections of the hospital. He said his team would be meeting with the UCH management to work on the modalities.
Agoha added that the timeframe for the reconnection was dependent on how quickly the issues around abuse, energy theft, and misuse were addressed.
Otegbayo recounted the various efforts put in place by the hospital to ensure that darkness did not overtake the facility.
He stated that the outstanding debt of the hospital, which he put at N283.8 million, included electricity usage at the College of Medicine and the hostels, among other facilities within the premises.
He disclosed that some of the issues had to do with old cables that were to be replaced.
Otegbayo asked for special intervention from the government and other stakeholders.
