The Federal government on Monday, April 22, vowed to sell off the five electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) now under the management of banks and Asset Management Company (AMCON) in the next three months to reputable technical power operators.
Recalled that Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) is currently under the management of the United Bank of Africa (UBA), Fidelity Bank manages Benin Electricity Distribution Company, Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company, and Kano Electricity Distribution Company while Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company is under the AMCON management.
They all found themselves under the new management arrangement owing to their inability to repay their loans.
The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, who made this known yesterday to the Senate Committee on Power was in an oversight visit to the ministry in Abuja, that the energy distribution assets are technical and as such, they should be under the management of technical experts.
He informed the committee that tough decisions on the DisCos have become necessary because the entire Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) fails when they refuse to perform.
According to him, the ministry will prevail on the Nigerian Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to revoke underperforming licenses and also change the management board of the DisCos if it becomes the solution.
Adelabu said, “Lastly, on distribution. Very soon you will see that tough decisions will be taken on the DisCos. They are the last lap of the sector. If they don’t perform, the entire sector is not performing.
” The entire ministry is not performing. We have put pressure on NERC, which is their regulator to make sure they raise the bar on regulation activities.
“If they have to withdraw licenses for non-performance, why not? If they have to change the board of management, why not?
“And all the DisCos that are still under AMCON and Banks, within the next three months, they must be sold to technical power operators with good reputations in utility management.
“We can no longer afford AMCON to run our DisCos. We can no longer afford the banks to run our DisCos. This is a technical industry and it must be run by technical experts.”
The minister also noted that it has become necessary to reorganize the DisCos for efficiency.
He stressed that Ibadan DisCo is too large for one company to manage.
Responding to the decision to resell the DisCos, a member of the committee, Senator Isah Jibrin alleged that some of the operators have stripped the assets of the DisCos they took over in 2013.
He insisted that the operators of any revoked DisCo must be compelled to fix the assets as they were before handover.
Besides, Adelabu also dropped the hint that the Federal Government mobilized a company named Messr Zigglass with $ 200 million (N32 billion) to supply three million meters that were yet to be supplied to date.
“If you held N32billion for these years, where is the interest”, he asked.
According to him, President Ahmed Tinubu has directed that the contract be revoked.
He said the government will bridge the current eight million metering gap in the next four to five years.
The minister noted that the funding is coming from a seed capital of N100billion and N75billion.
According to him, President Ahmed Tinubu has directed that the contract be revoked.
He said the government will bridge the current eight million metering gap in the next four to five years.
The minister noted that the funding is coming from a seed capital of N100billion and N75billion.
END.