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Corporate Organisations Vs The Future Of Abuja Environmental Protection Board [AEPB] By Emeka Oraetoka Information Management & Media Relation Consultant,
With the partial privatization of AEPB, the future of the board lay squarely on how it can generate and manage fund to sustain the environmental situation of FCT. Privatization has made it that AEPB is at this moment partially self-accounting. The implication now is that substantial proportion of its funding must be sourced by them.
According to a recent Champion Newspaper report, the Director General/Chief executive of the board, Hajiya Hadiza Abdullahi, stated that corporate establishments are still owing AEPB, about One Hundred and Sixty Five million Naira [N165m], She however, did not mention the names of those debtor outfits. But speculatively, it could just be that these establishments are Hotels, Restaurants, and other Eatery outlets, etc. The questions that readily come to mind from the Director General’s disturbing comment are: legally speaking, are those outfits supposed to owe a kobo after receiving services from AEPB? What would have been their fate, supposing there is reversal of circumstances- that is, those owing them refusing to pay as well?
It is a trite fact that the fundamental reason for any business is profit maximization. It follows that these corporate bodies would have since been out of business, if they were not making profit. The question now is: why do they owe? Could it be a case of “Live and let die” or business as usual? Are they disenchanted with the services received from AEPB? Are they paying to the wrong hands? These are posers agitating the minds of Environmentalists to which urgent answers are needed from these accused corporate organizations as their sustained refusal to pay could amount to running foul of relevant environmental laws, with the attendant consequences.
But some people may be tempted to ask: have those owing National Electric Power Authority [NEPA], now Power Holdings Plc, been killed, why the fuss about AEPB? Information had it that Nigerians’ owe NEPA a whopping sum of Five Hundred Billion Naira [500B], a debt which government said it is going ahead to manage. But Critics of this view have reasoned that it would be wrong to equate NEPA with AEPB. In the first place, they argue that in NEPA’s case, the debt is like a National Debt, that is: “government owing itself, with the bulk of the debt accumulated by government agencies”. Secondly, the debts from citizens and corporate establishments could be collected on strict enforcement of relevant laws of the federal republic of Nigeria. They further argued that sometimes NEPA could go extra mile in collecting their debts; for instance, they could effect disconnection of light to force both individuals and corporate bodies to pay up; government agencies are not left out too. They further argued that should AEPB decide to embark on “NEPA like” debt or bill collection; these corporate bodies might be forced to lose their customers. For instance, if AEPB decides to seal up a Hotel because of non-payment of bill[s], with guests inside the rooms, no reasonable guest, will like to patronize the hotel again for obvious reason. On the other hand, if they [AEPB] decide to go the extreme mile of invoking the relevant laws, with a view to prosecuting the administrators of these establishments, one could just imagine what will happen at the end of their trial – jail sentence, possibly.
What could have been responsible for the non-payment of bills by these corporate organizations? Lull in economic activities is a factor that could have informed their inability to pay. On the face value this could be a valid argument, but could it be a good argument for not paying for services rendered? For instance, during the: All African Games, COJA, CHOGOM Conventions of all the political parties, and other mass activities. It was believed that the Hotels in FCT raked in Billions of naira. They were however, not billed extra by AEPB for making abnormal profits. Since they did not pay extra in the period of Prosperity, they should endeavour to pay in the period of Adversity because both periods are a part of life.
Emeka Oraetoka. Information Management & Media Relation Consultant, e-mail:oramekllis@lycos com
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