The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, has appealed for the liquidation of the N42bn electricity debt of the Nigerian Army following the disconnection of various Army barracks and cantonments by power distribution companies.
Lagbaja made the appeal when he visited the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, in Abuja, where he pleaded with the minister to restructure the debt as the blackouts in barracks had led to the decomposition of corpses in Army mortuaries, a development that had warranted protests by owners of the corpses.
The Army chief said the blackouts in army barracks and cantonments is a security threats, while stating army cannot raise funds to pay the entire debt, as he solicited liquidation as was done in 2005 by the then President.
Responding, Adelabu assured the Nigerian Army of his readiness to dialogue with the power distribution companies to relieve the Nigerian Army of its electricity debt burden amounting to N42bn.
Recall, the Abuja Electricity Distribution PLC had threatened to disconnect the electricity supply of 86 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) over a total debt of N47. 1bn
