Post by yusuf babatunde (@Babsty)

EKO DISCO MUST IMMEDIATELY RECONNECT IBITOYE COMMUNITY AND END EXPLOITATIVE BILLING
APM Demands an End to the Privatization-Driven Exploitation of Electricity Consumers in Ajeromi-Ifelodun

The Ajegunle Peoples Movement (APM) vehemently condemns the unjust disconnection of the Ibitoye community in Ajeromi-Ifelodun by the Eko Power Distribution Company, We demand the immediate restoration of electricity supply and an end to the exploitative billing practices being imposed on residents.
The disconnection was in response to the community's principled resistance to outrageous estimated and multiple electricity bills (in a single month) arbitrarily imposed by Eko Disco now Eko Power since August 2024, without adequate explanation, transparency, consultation or justification.
For too long, communities across Ajeromi-Ifelodun have been subjected to the consequences of a privatized electricity system that places profit before public welfare. The sudden introduction of multiple bills in a single month, despite inadequate electricity supply, immediately raised serious concerns among residents. APM's intervention and demand for accountability compelled Eko Power to organise a town-hall meeting. However, its representatives failed to provide any convincing justification for the billing practices.
This is not simply an isolated billing dispute. It exposes the fundamental failure of the privatization model, which has transformed access to electricity from a basic public service into a source of profit for private companies. Consumers are expected to pay increasingly higher bills while receiving poor and unreliable electricity supply.
Residents of Ajeromi-Ifelodun have endured abysmal electricity supply across several feeders, outrageous estimated billing and repeated promises of prepaid meters that have failed to materialise for many consumers.
Despite repeated petitions and peaceful efforts to engage Eko Disco at its Orege Zonal Office, Apapa District Office and Marina Head Office, the company responded by disconnecting Ibitoye community. This occurred even after many residents had already paid more than ₦20,000 for an extremely inadequate electricity supply for just less than two hours of electricity in a week, followed by more than two weeks without power during the period under review.
Such treatment is unacceptable.
In a community where businesses and livelihoods are being undermined by persistent power failures, and where residents are also struggling with inadequate access to basic amenities such as water, Eko Power appears more concerned with revenue collection and profit maximization than providing reliable electricity to the people.
The billing practices also raise serious questions about compliance with applicable electricity-consumption caps and regulatory requirements. Consumers cannot be expected to pay for electricity they did not used

The crisis in Ibitoye is part of a wider failure of the privatized power sector. The experience of working-class communities demonstrates that handing a basic public utility to private companies has not delivered the reliable, affordable and accessible electricity Nigerians were promised.

APM believes that, electricity should not be treated as a commodity whose primary purpose is to generate profit for private investors. It is a fundamental public service essential to production, education, healthcare, communication, employment and the survival of communities.
The solution cannot be another round of tariff increases, more aggressive revenue collection or further concessions to private interests. What is required is the democratic transformation of the electricity sector into a genuinely public service, with public ownership and democratic control involving workers, consumers and communities.

APM DEMANDS
The Ajegunle Peoples Movement therefore demands:

1. The immediate reconnection of Ibitoye community and restoration of electricity supply without further conditions or intimidation.

2. An immediate review and cancellation of unjustified estimated and multiple bills imposed on consumers who did not receive the corresponding electricity supply.

3. An independent investigation into Eko Power billing and disconnection practices in Ajeromi-Ifelodun.

4. The Lagos State Electricity Regulatory Commission (LASERC), the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and the Lagos State House of Assembly must investigate these practices and impose appropriate sanctions where violations are established.

5. Eko Disco must provide transparent billing information and stop using disconnection as a weapon against communities demanding justice

6. The government must abandon policies that place the burden of the electricity crisis on poor consumers while protecting private interests.
E Signed Comrade Babatunde Yusuf Secretary Ajegunle Peoples Movement.

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