Janet Ogundepo
The Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Prof John Obafunwa, has pleaded with the Federal Government to extend the 50 per cent electricity subsidy given to tertiary institutions and government hospitals to the institute.
He emphasised that the institute should benefit from the cut, noting that it conducted medical research whose outcomes were mostly used in universities and teaching hospitals.
Obafunwa stated this in an interview with journalists at NIMR’s two-day end-of-year retreat held in the institute recently.
The pathologist said, “I discussed with my former supervising minister (former Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Tunji Alausa) for us to be given some considerations with regards to this so called policy of reduction by 50 per cent granted to hospitals and tertiary institutions, for that to be extended to NIMR.
“NIMR doubles up, to some extent, providing tertiary education. Some universities send students here for Industrial attachment. Some would come and say they want to spend some time as interns so we are involved in teaching. A number of our staff are adjunct lecturers and professors in some universities and we conduct medical research.
“So we are not too far from what is going on within the teaching hospitals because the product of what we do here is what would be applied, to some extent, in universities and teaching hospitals. We should also be in a position to benefit from the 50 per cent because if it is granted, it would help to reduce the cost (electricity cost).”
PUNCH Healthwise reports that the Federal Government, in August, approved a 50 per cent electricity subsidy to public hospitals.
FG noted that the gesture was aimed at reducing the running costs for public hospitals and alleviating the impact on patients.
The government’s response followed the outcry of administrators of universities and public universities over the outrageous electricity bill received after their upgrade to Band A.
Speaking further, the DG, who assumed office in August, decried the “humongous” electricity bill brought by the Eko Electricity Distribution Company, stating that the institute received an N218m electricity bill between August and December 2024.
The don asserted that the institute’s electricity budget for 2024 was N20m, emphasising that the EKEDC’s bill exceeded its budget.
He said, “We are said to be in Band A but the bill that we receive monthly has been very humungous. The bill that I got for August was about N49 million. Now, the capital budget for electricity for the whole year, 2024, is N20m.
“The bill that Eko Electricity Distribution Company gave us was N49m in August. We got about N48m in September and about N44m in October. In November, I got something over N34m. This month of December, I got over N43m.”
The former Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University, Ikeja, noted that several letters to seek an audience with EKEDC yielded no positive result, decrying the electricity company’s threats to disconnect power if the bill wasn’t paid.
The don stated that the lack of electricity at the research center would disrupt ongoing laboratory studies, and cause the decay of temperature-sensitive samples and reagents, noting that most of the institute’s equipment was donated by foreign benefactors.
Obafunwa noted that the situation had led to the rationing of power within the institute, stating that plans were in place to install prepaid meters in the offices and staff quarters.
“But I will say, NIMR has no meter on site. The only meter is at the electricity company’s office. So they are inviting us to come and jointly look at the readings. So we had to write to them. Please go and install a skipper here, so that we know what we are consuming.
“We also want to install pre-paid meters in all residences, in all laboratories, so if you don’t charge your meter, you don’t get power. We wrote to them but they didn’t reply. We wrote the second and third time but they didn’t reply. So I gave instructions to identify metering companies that are registered with the EKEDC and know how much it’s going to cost us for the installation.
“Yes, it’s going to cost us a lot of money getting single-phase meters. We are talking about almost 80 or more meters, apart from the main skipper panel. We wrote to them, please we are going ahead with this. They did not respond. But we copied the National Electricity Regulation Company. So electricity is a major problem.”
To further resolve the electricity problem, the pathologist stated, “I have told my investigators, researchers, when writing for grants to foreign funders to include power supply, to see how they can help us with solar panels. So that at the end of the day, PHCN or EKEDC would be a backup.”
The medical expert further decried the lack of awareness about the institute’s purpose and activities among the public, some professionals in the healthcare sector and persons in the alms of government.
The former provost of Lagos State University College of Medicine stated that the institute was working towards setting up a strong public relations and social media unit to help increase an understanding of the institute’s activities.
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