The National Economic Council (NEC) on Thursday said that the Federal Government was committed to achieving a new target of 5,000 mega watts of electricity supply to Nigerians by December, from its July 30 all-time peak of 4,662mw.
This translates to 29 per cent increase in the first six weeks of Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The NEC chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo met at the Presidential Villa with many governors and deputy governors as well as the Central Bank (CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, in attendance.
According to governors Mohammed Badaru (Jigawa), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Willie Obiano (Anambra) and Abdufattah Ahmed (Kwara), who briefed journalists at the end of the meeting, the Vice-President would closely monitor the steps being taken to ensure that the quantum of electricity supply remains on the increase so as to meet the target.
Badaru said particular attention was being paid to improving transmission/distribution so that the generated energy could eventually reach the consumers.
Asked if the prevalent rainy season was not responsible for this and if the steady increase could be sustained beyond the rains, the governor said government efforts at reducing vandalism of power infrastructure was yielding fruits and that low vandalism on transmission lines and gas pipelines was recorded recently.
This is even as the Federal Government extended the management contract of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for another year, to boost the tempo of power supply.
The NEC urged state governments to pay up their electricity bills, estimated at 45 per cent default nationwide, while assisting the Federal Government with additional security to reduce vandalism of power distribution assets.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the dissatisfaction expressed last week by the Senate with the performance of the Nigerian Electricity Industry (NESI), the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), on Thursday, issued a seven-day ultimatum to distribution companies (DISCOs) over slow pace in the implementation of the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI).
CAPMI, a programme introduced by NERC over two years ago that allows customers to pay for meters in exchange for future credit refund, has been largely ignored by the DISCOs.
While the distribution companies are quick to collect payments from consumers, they ignore other rules governing the programme such as that which gives a maximum of 45 days for the meters to be supplied.
Most customers who paid for the meters under CAPMI are yet to be supplied more than two years after.
NERC in the statement said it has written to the Port Harcourt, Abuja, Yola and Enugu, Ibadan, Ikeja, Eko and Benin distribution companies, informing them of its decision to begin enforcement action for non-compliance.
The commission directed them to show cause, within seven days, “why action should not be taken and sanction meted on them for non-compliance, stemming from violation of the provisions of the licence terms and conditions.”
The commission said it considers the actions of the DISCOs “as manifest and flagrant breaches and therefore requires you to show cause in writing within seven days from the date hereon, why enforcement should not be commenced against you and sanctions meted accordingly for non-compliance with the Terms and Conditions of the licence granted you and the order on Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation.
“The order introducing the CAPMI scheme became effective on May 14, 2013, in which NERC directed that the scheme should commence and be implemented at the same time in all the distribution companies”.
NERC explained that “the DISCOs were to redeploy meters under the scheme to willing customers, including the installation of same within 45 days from the date of the payment by any customer”.
NERC said it has observed from “public consultation and monitoring exercises carried out by the commission to ascertain the implementation level that the discos either failed or neglected to fully implement the CAPMI scheme.
“Condition 2(1) of the terms and conditions of the licence granted the discos provides as follows: “The licencee shall comply with the conditions of this licence and the requirements of the licenced business as set out in the Act and Regulations approved by the Commission in accordance with the Commission’s statutory duty to monitor all licencees”.
The commission also accused the DISCOs of collecting money from customers for credit meters, not minding whether they opted for the scheme, including not publicising the scheme thereby giving misleading information to customers.
Also at the NEC meeting, according to Governor Ahmed of Kwara, 22 states have so far taken advantage of Federal Government’s bond offer to help restructure their loan indebtedness to banks in order to ease their financial handicaps.
According to him: “The Debt Management Office (DMO) has requested states to reconcile figures with banks where disparities have been noticed and have been jointly authenticated with the banks as at June 30, 2015.
“As at August 14, 2015, of the 22 states that applied for the federal government bond 11 states have so far scaled through with respect to submission of necessary documentation to support disbursement.
“Others have been urged to quickly put their documentation in place to see that they fit into the time scheduled. The DMO is reviewing the additional submissions by other states so that it comes as phase two of their programme”.
At the meeting, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastasia Daniel-Nwaobia, put amount in the Excess Crude Account at $2.20 billion as at August 2015, which she said has been adversely affected by declining oil price, pressure on the domestic currency and inflation.
Some of the specific intervention in the foreign exchange market embarked on by the CBN to stabilise rates include cessation of foreign currency cash deposits in banks, closure of CBN official foreign window, and reclassification of eligible goods and services to the window.
Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, also presented a provisional report of the Five-Governors Ad-hoc Committee set up by NEC to review the operations and management of the ECA and Federation Account.
Oshiomhole told the council that the committee had invited all the relevant revenue generating agencies who contribute to the Federation Account in the course of its assignment.
The governor recalled that two International Audit Firms have been appointed to carry out Forensic Audit of the ECA/Federation Account from January 2010 to June 30, 2015 and that a more comprehensive report should be expected in future.
The Group Managing Director of NNPC equally briefed the NEC on the ongoing reforms in the petroleum industry and gave an overview of his reforms.
These will cover aspects of performance management, transparency and accountability, proper focus in investment attraction, zero tolerance for corruption, cost auditing to improve stakeholders management and relationship and image rebranding, among others, he stated.
