The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has announced that the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) has pledged to restore power within 24 to 48 hours after dialogue.
This announcement came shortly after the medical students from the University of Ibadan protested on Monday over 100 days in darkness within the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State.
Acknowledging that the 4-month total blackout was a shame to witness within the health facility and to the Federal Government (FG).
The health facility was disconnected from the national grid due to a ₦200 million debt.
Speaking over the disruption, the Power Minister said this issue is not only peculiar to UCH but has also occurred in other FG health facilities, citing the University of Benin Teaching Hospital and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.
While attributing the power failure to a customer-vendor relationship issue between UCH and the IBEDC, he revealed that FG, as an authority, has stepped into the issue to provide a solution.
He, despite a successful attempt to reconnect the hospital in the past, underscored that the lingering unresolved issue will be attended to as plans are on the way to provide a permanent solution to the reoccurring issue.
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Explaining the ambiguity in reconnect, he stressed that it required a dynamic transformer with other connections.
Begging for more time for reconnection to be executed, he urged students and patients to remain calm, revealing that a new transformer will be installed to prevent further issues and separate the hospital from other users.
With this, he noted that after installation, the hospital will witness a new easy electricity payment structure to IBEDC, revealing that the energy bill consumed was high, incurring other users bills.
To this end, he assured that other entities will be held responsible for their energy usage, respectively, as plans have been made for a permanent electricity solution for both the hospital and the university.
The minister disclosed the introduction of an interconnected solar-powered mini-grid for the hospital and the university, which will be implemented within six to nine months, marking the reduction of the UCH energy bill by two-thirds.
