KADUNA ELECTRIC FRONTLINE APRIL EDITION

Vandals Caught Are Adequately Prosecuted -Barr. Mohammed 

Maryam Mohammed is a barrister that knows her onions. Though relatively new in company, she has her hands firmly on the plough to get things done. She speaks about the menace of vandalism and how it is hampering the business of electricity distribution. The aims and achievement of the just concluded workshop with Judges and Magistrates.  Read on…

Barrister Maryam Mohammed, you recently joined the company as the Deputy Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, what has your experience been so far?

I have been here for six months, but it feels like I have been here for three years. There is a lot to do, a mountain of regulations to read and so much to learn. It has been challenging in a good way.

Recently, the duo of Kaduna and Kano Electric had a workshop for magistrates in all the franchise areas, what is the purpose of the workshop?

It was organized with the High Court and Federal High Court Judges for Batch A and then DPP's Magistrates, Police and Civil Defence for Batch B. The purpose of the conference was to open up communication channels with stakeholders, so they would have an understanding of the sector, its makeup and its challenges. Most especially, it was to foster a relationship based on mutual understanding of the role each party can play in improving the situation we find ourselves in.

What is your assessment of the workshop?

It was a huge success. That was how most of the participants viewed it and it is the way we the organizers view it too. There was an amazing turn out and the conversation flowed easily. We hosted a Justice of the Court of Appeal, Judges from seven states of the federation and they honored us with their presence. 

The Magistrates, Police, DPP's and NDCDC officers were well represented and industry participants including NERC, NBET, experts all came in large numbers. Many attendees implored Kaduna Electric to make the engagements more frequent as it opened their eyes to many issues in the industry they were not aware of. For instance, that Discos buy electricity at a higher cost than it is selling, and no one is paying for the shortfall. This and many more were the revelations they were exposed to.

Lately, there has been an increase in the number of reported cases of energy theft. How have you been handling it?

We have had many vandalism cases and as you know Kaduna Electric's coverage area is really wide. This makes our infrastructure susceptible to pilfering. We liaise with the police and the BDROs in the areas where vandals are caught and watch brief to ensure diligent prosecution of the accused. Vandalism was an issue that kept coming up during the conference because its effects are multi-faceted. 

Are there plans to set up special tribunals to address such cases?

We hope that since the communication channels have been open, the sky is the limit to what we can achieve, but you know some things take time. We will keep pushing till we get there.

What is your assessment of the judicial handling process of energy/electricity cases in Nigeria.

From the reaction and conversations we had at the conference, we are confident that the attitude will improve towards sentencing of guilty parties. A Judge at the conference told us about a matter he handled where a customer sued Kaduna Electric for disconnection and was requested by the company to pay for loss of revenue when caught bypassing our meter. The customer tried to get an exparte order, but the Court did not grant the order. The same customer decided to settle the matter out of Court knowing that the Court will not tolerate the bad faith; he did not come to equity with clean hands.

When you are not working how do you relax?

I read, write, walk, bake, listen to music and try to learn new things.