The Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology Wudil, Kano State, has been plunged into darkness after the Kano Electricity Distribution Company disconnected the institution’s power supply.
KEDCO disconnected the university around a week ago due to its inability to pay its outstanding accumulated bill of about N248 million, which has presently crippled the institution’s academic programmes.
Prof. Abdulkadir Dambazau, the university’s Dean of Students’ Affairs, told reporters on Monday that efforts to persuade KEDCO to reconnect the institution to the national grid fell on deaf ears, as the company insisted on the full payment of the bill.
Such efforts, Dambazau stated, included the payment of N20 million, which he described as the university’s increased monthly subvention from the state government.
With a population of 28,000 people, he said the university faces various challenges in running its services, including academics and water supply.
“Electricity is critical to the operations of the institution in view of its nature as a University of Science and Technology,” according to Dambazau.
The dean warned that the situation could worsen after university students return from their end-of-semester break.
He also revealed that the university used local load shedding in order to cut electricity consumption, noting that the monthly bill had dropped slightly to a little over N50 million.
He stated that the circumstances caused the university to write to the state government requesting that it intervene and bail it out of its difficulty, and that the government is considering the request.
According to Dambazau, the university has three options: the state government to bail it out of the situation, students to bear the burden or the management to shut down the institution.