PRESS STATEMENT

The Ajegunle Peoples Movement (APM) strongly condemns the continuous exploitation and anti-poor attacks being carried out against working-class electricity consumers, artisans, market men and women, and poor people generally by the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (Eko Disco).

For the month of April, Eko Disco distributed outrageously inflated estimated bills, alongside the criminal selective distribution of multiple bills to some residents across Ajeromi-Ifelodun communities, ranging from fifty thousand to over two hundred thousand naira, despite the near-total collapse of electricity supply within the period under review.

Ironically, throughout April, Eko Disco repeatedly issued public apologies on its customer care social media platforms, admitting that residents were receiving less than thirty minutes of electricity supply daily due to what it described as “reduced allocation and fault at the Badia substation.” The company also convened an emergency stakeholders’ meeting at the local government level in an attempt to pacify angry consumers over epileptic power supply, outrageous estimated billing, and multiple charges. At the meeting, the Chief Commercial Officer from Marina promised to address the numerous complaints raised by residents, yet nothing concrete has been done to date.

These developments once again expose the anti-people and profit-driven character of the privatised electricity sector, where private profiteers continue to enrich themselves through the ruthless exploitation of poor and working-class communities.

Consumers under the Amukoko feeder, who barely enjoyed up to one hour of electricity supply throughout April, were still slammed with outrageous bills ranging from fifty thousand to over two hundred thousand naira. This is nothing but organised exploitation and daylight robbery against residents already battling worsening economic hardship.

Rather than defend consumers, the Lagos State Electricity Regulatory Commission, which ought to sanction Eko Disco and even withdraw its licence for these criminal acts of systematic overbilling and exploitation, has instead added its own twist to these banalities by introducing arbitrary, unverified, and unscientific capping figures for various feeders in April. These figures do not correspond with the almost non-existent electricity supply experienced by consumers during the period, thereby giving official legitimacy to the exploitation of the masses.

Statistics have further revealed the scale of profiteering in the electricity sector. Eko Disco reportedly distributed over 36 billion naira worth of bills to consumers in February and raked in about 33 billion naira in revenue at the expense of the super exploitation of the masses. This demonstrates how the DISCOs are rapidly recovering enormous profits from a sector that was sold off cheaply to private interests, while governments continue to channel trillions of naira in so-called subsidies to the GENCOs and DISCOs in exchange for darkness, suffering, and exploitation.

The Ajegunle Peoples Movement therefore demands:

• The immediate withdrawal of all outrageous estimated and multiple bills distributed by Eko Disco for the month of April.
• The cancellation of all outstanding charges arising from these fraudulent bills, which must not be transferred to subsequent billing cycles. This further exposes how many of the accumulated outstanding debts imposed on residents are products of years of outrageous and excessive estimated billing.
• An emergency town hall meeting involving the Lagos State Electricity Regulatory Commission, the Lagos State House of Assembly, community stakeholders, and residents across Ajeromi-Ifelodun.
• Immediate sanctions against Eko Disco for persistent overbilling, exploitation, failure to provide a stable and affordable electricity supply, and refusal to provide free prepaid meters to consumers.
• The immediate renationalisation of the electricity sector under democratic public ownership and control in order to guarantee an affordable, stable, and publicly accountable electricity supply for the masses rather than profit for a few capitalist interests.

The struggle against outrageous billing, darkness, and privatisation is ultimately a struggle for survival and the protection of working-class communities from capitalist exploitation.