An eight-year-old child, Faith Yakubu, has been electrocuted by a disconnected wire that supplied electricity to her residence.
According to the Nigerian Electricity
Regulatory Commission, the accident occurred when a staff of Abuja
Electricity Distribution Company disconnected the wire feeding Yakubu’s
residence over allegation of accumulated bills.
It noted that the staff left the wire
lying on the ground and failed to disconnect electricity supply from the
transformer, adding that the deceased was carrying her four-month old
younger brother on her back when she was electrocuted.
The commission, in a statement on
Monday, said, “The deceased, in her innocence, while running an errand
with the surviving four-month old baby boy strapped on her back, grabbed
the wire in an attempt to cross over it and got electrocuted. The baby
on her back survived the accident.”
NERC stated that it had placed a fine of N18m on the Abuja Disco following the electrocution of the eight-year-old child.
It said the girl was electrocuted at
Anguwan Dodo in the Gwagwalada community of the Federal Capital
Territory and noted that the area was within the company’s distribution
franchise area.
NERC stated that it upheld the
recommendations of its panel report of accident investigation which
found the distribution company liable of negligence.
In its resolution on the accident, the
commission stated that “AEDC shall pay N18m as compensation to the
family of Faith Yakubu and communicate same to NERC accordingly.
“AEDC should ensure that the surviving
four month old child undergoes medical check up in a recognised hospital
and evidence presented to the commission for further directives.”
It said the Disco was directed to carry
out regular safety enlightenment campaign in accordance with the Nigeria
Electricity Safety Manual and Nigeria Electricity Safety Code.
It said, “AEDC was told to adequately
train its staff on market regulations as well as ensure that its
marketing units are provided with competent technical staff with the
sole responsibility of carrying out the function of connection and
disconnection of customers when all conditions for disconnections in
line with NERC’s regulations have been met.”
Punch News
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