By Olatunde Dodondawa
One Segun Abiodun has bagged a three-year jail term after being arraigned before the Agbara Magistrate Court on a count charge of stealing a prepaid meter in the Ajangbadi area of Eko Electricity Distribution Company’s network.
In a statement signed by the EKEDC General Manager, Corporate Communications, Godwin Idemudia, the defendant, Abiodun, an installer for one of the meter asset providers stole a meter allocated to a customer in the Ajangbadi area of Lagos and sold it to another customer in Agbara, Ogun state.
Idemudia said “the meter installer sold a customer’s meter to an unsuspecting customer who wanted to do his due diligence by buying units on the said meter, but our system flagged it as the meter has been already allocated to another customer in an entirely different location. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the installer stole the meter and sold it to the customer”.
The Magistrate, M. B.I. Ilo found Abiodun guilty on the said charge and sentenced him to three years imprisonment. He ordered him to be remanded at the Ilaro facility of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) for his jail term.
Idemudia urged customers to go through the process of applying for prepaid meters via the Company’s website at https://ekedp.com/online_meter_order rather than going through people posing to be meter agents to avoid being defrauded. Also, he appealed to customers to report any case of demand or extortion from staff or agents to the Company through its whistleblowing email and phone number (whistleblower@ekedp.comfraudwatch@ekedp.com 08000033333).
Idemudia promised customers that the Company will go to the full extent of the law to ensure that such practices become a thing of the past and defaulters be brought to book and serve as deterrents to others.
