The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC) has commenced mobile MAP metering in Owerri, Imo State, as part the organization’s conscious effort to have more of its customers access prepaid meters within 48 hours.

This metering program allows customers to pay and get metered and reimbursed with the value of the cost of meter through energy over a period.

The Head, Corporate Communications, EEDC. Mr. Emeka Ezeh, who made this known through a press statement, affirmed that the company adopted this as a strategic approach to close the existing metering gap in its network.

Mobile MAP Metering kicked off in Enugu in June 2022, and has been executed in several locations within the metropolis. It has traversed Ogidi and Onitsha, in Anambra State, with about 6000 customers already metered through this program.

To subscribe, EEDC customers residing in Owerri are expected to visit either the Owerri or New Owerri District office with a valid form of identification (either Drivers License, Voters Card, NIN or International Passport) and a copy of their bills. Officials of the company will assist with the MAP application process, and installation will be made once payment is confirmed.

The Single-phase meter goes for N63,061.27 while the Three-phase meter is N117,910.69. The prices are all inclusive of VAT.

Customers are therefore encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity and get metered, bearing in mind that they will be reimbursed with the value of the cost of the meter through energy, over a period. It is also the only way they can manage their consumption and pay for what they consume.

This exercise is carried out by EEDC in conjunction with its MAPs (Meter Asset Providers) – MOJEC International Limited and Advanced Energy Management Services (AEMS).

MAP is a metering intervention designed and approved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to close the existing metering gap in the sector.

EMEKA EZEH
HEAD, CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS, EEDC
18/05/2023

The oldest most complete Hebrew Bible sells for $38m at auction

The Codex Sassoon, the oldest most complete Hebrew Bible, on display at Sotheby's in New York (15 February 2023)

It is the oldest single manuscript containing all books of the Hebrew Bible with their punctuation, vowels, and accents

The oldest most complete Hebrew Bible has been bought at Sotheby’s New York for $38.1m (£30.6m), becoming the most valuable manuscript sold at auction.

The Codex Sassoon is thought to have been written about 1,100 years ago.

It is the earliest surviving example of a single manuscript containing all 24 books of the Hebrew Bible with punctuation, vowels and accents.

US lawyer and former ambassador Alfred Moses bought it for the ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, Israel.

“The Hebrew Bible is the most influential in history and constitutes the bedrock of Western civilisation,” Mr Moses said in a statement.

“I rejoice in knowing that it belongs to the Jewish people. It was my mission, realising the historic significance of Codex Sassoon, to see it resides in a place with global access to all people.”

The winning bid exceeded the $30.8m paid by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates in 1994 for the Codex Leicester, Leonardo da Vinci’s scientific notebook.

But it fell short of the record for a historical document sold at auction set by hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, who bought a first-edition printed copy of the US constitution for $43.2m two years ago.

The Codex Sassoon is named after a previous owner, David Solomon Sassoon, who acquired it in 1929 and assembled the largest and most important private collection of Hebrew manuscripts in the world at his home in London.

The text of the Hebrew Bible – whose 24 books make up what Christians call the Old Testament – remained in flux until the early Middle Ages, when Jewish scholars known as Masoretes began to create a body of notes that standardised it.

The Aleppo Codex, which was assembled around 930, is considered the most authoritative Masoretic text. However, damage from a fire in the Syrian city of Aleppo in 1947 means that only 295 of the original 487 pages survive today.

The Codex Sassoon, which carbon dating shows was created around 900, is missing only 12 pages, according to Sotheby’s.

“It presents to us the first time an almost-complete book of the Hebrew Bible appears with the vowel points, the cantillation and the notes on the bottom telling scribes how the correct text should be written,” Sharon Mintz, senior Jewish artefact specialist at the auction house, said in March.

Centuries of annotations and inscriptions reveal that the manuscript was sold by a man named Khalaf ben Abraham to Isaac ben Ezekiel al-Attar, who later transferred ownership to his two sons, Ezekiel and Maimon.

In the 13th Century, the codex was dedicated to a synagogue in Makisin, in north-eastern Syria.

After the town was destroyed by either by the Mongols later in the 13th Century or by the Timurids at the start of the 15th Century, the manuscript was entrusted for safekeeping to Salama ibn Abi al-Fakhr. It then disappeared in history for 500 years.

The Codex Sassoon’s most recent owner was Swiss investor Jacqui Safra, who bought it for £2m ($2.5m) at auction in London in 1989.

The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC) has resumed full operations in Imo State following the suspension of the week-long industrial action embarked upon by organised labour, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

The suspension is following an agreement yesterday (Monday), between the Imo State Government, NLC, and TUC, “to enable peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues in an atmosphere of mutuality”

Consequently, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), which is the primary source of power supply to EEDC, has been directed to immediately restore supply to enable EEDC distribute to its customers.

By this development, power supply was restored to Owerri metropolis and most parts of the state yesterday, while effort is being made to gradually restore the remaining areas.

EEDC, therefore, appreciates its esteemed customers in Imo State for the calm and understanding they displayed while the industrial action lasted.

It will be recalled that last week Monday, the organised labour, after its joint Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting, directed all affiliates of both NLC and TUC in Imo State to withdraw their services effective from 12 midnight on Tuesday, over alleged “violent disruption and unprovoked assault on Imo State workers by agents of Imo State Government during the May Day celebration”.

In a statement released Tuesday to newsmen by Emeka Eze, Head Corporate Communications, EEDC, they were happy the issues were being resolved.

According to Eze in the statement, “We are excited that this issue is being addressed and are already gradually picking supply and distributing to our customers across Imo State. We remain committed and consistently working to deliver improved services to our esteemed customers.”