Stakeholders from Dukku Local Government Area of Gombe State have pledged to support Jos Electricity Distribution Company in its efforts to tackle vandalism as well as encourage payment of bills amongst electricity users in the council.
They made the pledge when officials of JEDC led by Mr Musa Abdullahi, the Head, Corporate Services, JEDC, Gombe State paid a courtesy visit to the council as part of efforts to intensify campaign against vandalism of JEDC’s critical infrastructure in the state.
In his remarks, Hon. Adamu Waziri, the Chairman, Dukku Local Government Council lauded the JEDC team for coming to the grassroots to campaign against vandalism and to emphasise the need for payment of electricity bills.
Waziri said it was necessary for community stakeholders to support efforts at protecting vital installations so as to continue to enjoy power supply as vandalism also affect electricity users as well as the distributor.
On the issue of payment of bills, the council boss pledged to support JEDC in this regard towards ensuring that people pay for services they have enjoyed.
He highlighted the importance of power supply to the socio-economic life of residents of Dukku, stressing that water shortage was a major challenge in the area and “without power supply we can not pump water.
“So we need power to be able to carry out our daily activities as well as boost businesses in our communities,” he said
The council boss urged JEDC to improve supply so that customers would be encouraged to pay their bills, adding that bills payment was crucial for JEDC’s service delivery.
For his part, the Emir of Dukku, Alh. Haruna Abdulkadir Rasheed II, commended the JEDC team for coming to the Emirate, noting that such was unprecedented.
Rasheed said he would engage with district and the village heads in his emirate on the need to protect JEDC’s installations in the Council and also to encourage people at the grassroots to pay their bills.
He said that though there was economic hardship in the country but stressed that people must learn to pay for services rendered to them.
He said that the engagement with leaders at the grassroots was to tell the people that “if we pay we will get power supply and if not we will stay in darkness irrespective of the band,” he said.
While speaking at both the Emir’s palace and the visit to the LG chairman, Abdullahi said the team’s visit to Dukku was to partner with the grassroots towards protecting its facilities in the council.
He said with the number of transformers and other installations in the state, it was difficult for JEDC to effectively protect the facilities without the buy-in of the grassroots.
The spokesperson commended the Emir and the LG boss for their commitment to protecting critical infrastructure of JEDC and also advocating for the need for residents to lay their bills.
