Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, says the institution and its host communities located have been disconnected from the national grid due to a debt it owes the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC)

A bulletin of the institution on Friday sighted by Daily Trust stated that the disconnection occurred on Thursday.

This is coming 18 months after the institution was disconnected for inability to pay the debt owed to the utility company which plunged the university into darkness for months and led to the suspension of academic activities in the school.

The bulletin read, “This is to inform members of the University community that Ahmadu Bello University has been disconnected from the grid by Kaduna Electric. It has been off the grid since yesterday (Thursday, 28thNovember, 2024) evening following the institution’s inability to pay the accrued electricity bills.

“The University has been facing difficulty in footing the monthly electricity bills following increment in electricity tariffs early this year. ABU has been able to pay the sum of over one billion Naira electricity bills to the company since January this year, in addition to huge amount of money expended for diesel. This is even at the expense of the critical statutory functions of the University.”

The university management also appealed to members of the university community for their understanding, saying effors were being made to offset the bills.

The Head of Corporate Communication for KEDC, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, confirmed the disconnection.

He told Daily Trust that the debt the university had accrued over the years was responsible for the disconnection. (Daily Trust)