THE Federal Government has disclosed plans to sell off the five electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) managed by some banks and Asset Management Company (AMCON) to technical power operators, by July 2024.
Adebayo Adelabu, the minister of power disclosed this in Abuja on Monday during an oversight visit of the Senate Committee on Power to the ministry.
Nigerian government in conjunction with Fidelity Bank and AMCON in a move to save the companies from insolvency, among other reasons, in 2022 took over the affairs of Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), Kaduna Electric, and Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED)
According to the Minister, the decision became necessary due to their continued poor performance, which he said was a setback to the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
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.
He 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.”
Speaking further, Adelabu disclosed that efforts were ongoing to bridge the nation’s metering gap in the next four to five years.
He disclosed that the Federal Government has mobilized a company named Messr Zigglass with $ 200 million to supply three million meters that were yet to be supplied to date.
“If you held N32billion for these years, where is the interest”
According to to him, President Ahmed Tinubu has directed that the contract be revoked, adding that the funding is coming from a seed capital of N100billion and N75billion.