…To checkmate fraudulent activities.
by Christiana Gokyo, Jos
The Plateau State House of Assembly has resolved to invite the management of the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC) for dialogue to address the issue of fraudulent activities of the JEDC.
The House Majority Leader, Hon. Ishaku Maren, during the plenary session moved a motion under matter of urgent of public importance over what he tagged “fraudulent activities of Jos Electricity Distribution Company.”
In his submission, he alleged that most cases of vandalization of Transformers are done by the staff or in collaboration with staff of the organization, as according to him, often times there will be blackout before the criminals would perpetrate their act.
Other members of the House also spoke on the motion, noting that, most of their constituents are victims of the company’s poor services, observing that some communities are in total blackout for months and some are having epileptic power supply and, yet, those using estimated bills are being overcharged monthly.
In his response, Speaker of the House, Hon. Moses Sule, expressed dismay over the situation, saying that even the Assembly’s transformer was vandalized and they are currently running on a (standby) generator.
Also, a bill for a law to establish the Plateau State Citizens Mediation Center and other related matters 2023, has passed its third reading on the floor of the 10th Assembly and is awaiting the Governor’s assent.
While the Clerk of the House of Assembly was directed to forward a clean copy to the governor, the bill which is an Executive Bill that was presented to the floor of the House by the Majority Leader and Member representing Bokkos Constituency, Hon. Ishaku Maren, had undergone all legislative procedures, including public hearing by an ad-hoc committee and was chaired by the Deputy Speaker from Gwattson of the House, who is representing Jos South Constituency.
While presenting the report of the ad-hoc committee before the House, chairman of the committee explained that “The bill was committed to the ad-hoc committee on the 7th of June, 2023, and the committee scrutinized it at the committee stage before public hearing, involving all concerned stakeholders, held on the 3rd July, 2023,” adding that, “Observations and recommendations were made by the stakeholders.”
After receiving the committee’s report, the House converted to the plenary session into a committee of whole and adopted the 5 pages’ report through page-by-page method before Clerk of the House, Mr. Ponven Wuyep, gave it a third reading.
If the bill is passed into law and the center established, it will serve as an alternative dispute resolutions center where farm disputes, royalty disputes, landlord/tenants and other domestic or internal disputes in the state can be addressed.
