THE mayor of South African city of Tshwane on Monday, February 2, exposed how Nigerian High Commission failed to pay its electricity bills and consequently got disconnected by the authorities. 

Nasiphi Moya, the city’s mayor revealed the development on his X account.

“We’ve disconnected electricity at the High Commission of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. They owe the city for utility services,” Moya taunted.

He then posted another some hours later, “We thank the High Commission of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for honouring its debt to the city. The city will reconnect electricity.”

The ICIR could not immediately verify the volume of debt owed by the commission.

Earlier, same day, the City of Tshwane had cut off electricity to the Nigerian High Commission over unpaid utility bills.

The disconnection was carried out under the city’s #TshwaneYaTima campaign, which targets customers who fail to pay for municipal services. The city said no institution would be spared, including diplomatic missions.

The incident has since attracted condemnations from Nigerians, with citizens claiming the incident further smeared the nation’s image.

While the Nigerian commission enjoys electricity supply in South Africa, back home, power supply is epileptic, with nearly 230 million population struggling to share less than 5,000 megawatts of electricity.

The national grid has repeatedly collapsed, failing businesses, homes and citizens.

The Nigerian government has also suffered a similar fate of power disconnection to key government agencies back at home by power distribution companies.

The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) had threatened to disconnect power to Aso Rock and other important institutions in the nation’s capital.

It has also severed power supply to federal ministries, agencies and departments.