The Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) has restored electricity to the Navrongo campus of the University for Development Studies.
NEDCo on Wednesday, October 3, 2019 disconnected the institution from the national grid over non-payment of electricity bills since 2012.
Following this, the Students Representative Council in a communiqué gave management of the school and government a three-day ultimatum to restore light to the school or incur their wrath.
Speaking to Citi News, Principal of the university, Prof. Albert Lugutera said, efforts have been made to restore the institution to the national grid following an agreement with NEDCo whilst the school works assiduously to pay off the arrears.
“It’s unfortunate that, the disconnection happened and I will not entirely blame the school authorities or government for the incident. On Tuesday, NEDCo met the management of the three campuses of UDS in Tamale and had an agreement on how to settle our indebtedness.”
“But before we could even finish our discussion, the area managers of NEDCo, Upper East and Upper West regions went ahead to disconnect the Wa and Navrongo campuses, following that, the Wa campus was later connected but the Navrongo campus was not connected. Thankful this morning, the issued has been resolve and the UDS Navrongo campus is connected to the national grid and we are on course to permanently resolve the issue.
If we are going to pay for the bills, it’s always going to be offloaded on the students, the university doesn’t have money, we need to find the money from somewhere to pay and the students have been in negotiation with government to pay for electricity”.
Confirming the restoration electricity to the school, SRC Secretary, Akubah Rosina said, the student body was grateful for the swift intervention by management of the school but added that, deliberate efforts must be made to settle of the school’s indebtedness to NEDCo. “For now, the light on campus is back and we are just hoping management of the school fulfills its part of the bargain”.
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