Segun Abiodun, a Lagos resident, has been sentenced for criminal possession of an Eko Electricity Distribution Company meter (EKEDC).
Abiodun was charged with stealing the device and was prosecuted before the Agbara Magistrate Court.
The convict, an installer, had sold a meter that had been assigned to someone in Lagos’ Ajangbadi neighborhood to another customer in Agbara, Ogun State.
When the unwitting consumer attempted to purchase units, the system identified that it had previously been assigned to a different person.
M. B. Ilo, the Magistrate, found Abiodun guilty and sentenced him to three years in prison.
Ilo ordered that Abiodun be remanded at the Ilaro facility of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) for his jail term.
Godwin Idemudia, the EKEDC General Manager, Corporate Communications, urged customers to go through the official process of applying for prepaid meters.
The spokesman appealed to customers “to report any case of demand or extortion from staff or agents” through the DisCo’s whistleblowing email and phone.