There are indications that the electricity distribution companies in
the country may soon cut off power supply to government ministries,
departments and agencies over N93bn outstanding debts.
Investigation by Saturday PUNCH revealed that members of the
Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors have resolved to
disconnect all the MDAs in the federal, state and local governments over
the debts.
A source in ANED, which is made of 11 DISCOs, told our correspondent
that if ongoing negotiations with the Federal Government fail to resolve
the financial crisis in the power sector, the members will be left with
no other choice but to cut off power supply to all debtors, including
MDAs.
The source said if the debts were not paid soon, the chain of
electricity supply from generation to transmission and distribution of
power would collapse.
"We are having discussions with the Office of the Vice President
(Prof. Yemi Osinbajo) over the issue and the Minister of Power, Works
and Housing (Babatunde Fashola, SAN) is involved. President is also
aware of it, but if that fails, we will disconnect the MDAs anywhere
and everywhere," the source said.
"Then, it will no more be about government house this or government that."
According to the source, the DISCOs' biggest debtor is the military, particularly the Nigerian Army.
The source said military installations in the country have not paid
electricity bills since the private DISCOs took over from the Power
Holding Company of Nigeria.
He also identified the police and local governments as other big debtors.
"We are not afraid to disconnect military installations," the source said.
"If not for the ongoing discussions with the government, we would
have disconnected the military installations and nothing would have
happened. We are not afraid to disconnect military installations, even
though we have had situations in the past when our workers were attacked
by soldiers for doing their job.
"We are not afraid of disconnecting anybody. The truth is that the era when we were afraid of the military is gone.
"We have a strategy that is very technical such that we can
disconnect an establishment or a house without having to go there. There
are ways to do it.
"But now, the Federal Government is on top of the situation so we have decided to wait and see."
Information made available to Saturday PUNCH showed that as of March 2016, the Nigerian Army owed DISCOs N18.7bn.
For example, the army owed Abuja Electricity DISCO N3.9bn; Kaduna
DISCO, N3.8bn; Ikeja Electric, N1.63bn; Ibadan DISCO, N1.7bn; Enugu
DISCO, N1.4bn; and Eko DISCO, N2.2bn.
The Nigerian Airforce owed the DISCOs a total of N2.1bn; the Nigerian
Navy, N1.7bn, pushing what the military owed to N22.2bn as of March.
Findings also showed that federal ministries and parastatals in the Federal Capital Territory alone owed the Abuja DISCO N3.3bn.
According to information made available to our correspondent, local
governments across the country owed the various electricity DISCOs over
N500m.
It was revealed that the total debt for Abuja DISCO as of March stood at N10.5bn, but has shot up to N12bn by July.
"The debts are so much that unless something is done, we will not survive," the source said.
"As of March 2016, Nigeria Police Force owed the various DISCOs a total of N2.1bn.
"For example, Abuja DISCO N329m; Benin DISCO, N367m; Eko DISCO,
N134m; Enugu Disco, N109m; Ibadan DISCO, N156m; IE, N454m; Jos DISCO,
N118m; Kano DISCO, N32m; Port Harcourt DISCO, over N20m; Yola DISCO,
N71m.
"We have generation companies asking us to pay debts running into
billions of naira. Where can we get the money when people are not paying
our own bills? And the money is more for the whole value chain; only 24
per cent of it is meant for the DISCOs, the rest go to all those
involved in the supply of electricity in this country."
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