From Jefferson Ibiwale, Benin

A call has been made for the criminalization of power theft and enforcement of the existing sanctions with appropriate penalties for the recovery of lost revenue arising from such acts of sabotage.

Chairman of Vigeo Power Limited, Victor Gbolade Osibodu, made the call on Friday in Benin, Edo State, at the physical handing over of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, BEDC, to his company.

Osibodu also urged the federal government to speedily conclude payment of workers of PHCN to enable new owners and investors who took over the various companies to enjoy a stable working environment.

He said a “regulatory certainty with a well defined and predictable tariff methodology” should be developed, while also urging the federal government to facilitate easy access to adequate funding for the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN.

This, according to him, will enable the TCN adequately evacuate power produced to distribution companies.

He assured retained staff of the now defunct BEDC of  a conducive and healthy working environment, just as he promised electricity consumers that the handover will mark significant improvement in power supply.

Earlier in his remarks, the CEO, BEDC, Effiong Umoren, said the four states under the zone, namely, Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti, have the highest prepared meters population (about 40 percent) in the country.