By Ogbitse Meyiwa
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Prof. Lillian Salami, has appealed to students to understand the current challenges facing the institution in paying its electricity bills. In a radio interview on Friday, May 31, 2024, Prof. Salami explained that the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) had increased the university’s electricity bill from ₦80 million to about ₦280 million for the month of April, which is unsustainable for the institution. She stated that the university is running on its own funds without any support from the Federal Government for electricity, and has been struggling to pay its electricity bills. The university has already paid the ₦80 million, but is disputing the additional ₦200 million.
The BEDC had threatened to cut power supply if the April bill of about 280 million was not paid, and went ahead to do so not long after the bill was issued to the university. To mitigate the situation, the university has resorted to using generators to provide power to the hostels and essential facilities, spending over ₦46 million on diesel in just a week. The VC revealed that the university is working on a plan to provide in the school hostels, one hour of electricity supply in the morning and three hours at night, running on diesel-powered generators.
When asked why the university had not explored alternative power sources, such as solar energy, Prof. Salami revealed that the university had already started working on installing solar panels and streetlights, and had met with companies that could help with the installation. However, these companies require full payment upfront, which is a challenge for the university.
In a related development, students have been complained bitterly about the electricity situation, and have scheduled a protest for Monday, 3rd June, 2024. In response to the planned protest by students, the Vice Chancellor said that in other schools where students protest, they go to meet the electricity distributors, but in UNIBEN, students are fighting only the management.
The university management has decided to take BEDC to court over the matter, and is appealing to students to understand the situation and bear with the institution as it works to resolve the issue. The VC suggested that students could contribute ₦80,000 to ₦100,000 per semester to help raise funds for electricity, emphasising that this money will help reduce the financial burden on the school in settling electricity bills, and importantly, the money will not go through the management’s hands – the students will be responsible for paying the electricity bills themselves.
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