DisCos made no significant investment in power sector since 2013 - Govs
Fri Feb 28, 2020 09:15:am National
1.1K By Afam Jude Offor
The Federal Government has granted the Nasir El-Rufai-led ad-hoc committee on power additional two months to carry our thorough forensic audit on power Distribution Companies of Nigeria (DISCOS) following suspicion of their poor investment in the sector.
The decision was taken at the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and attended by the governors of the 36 states. Briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the over five-hour meeting, Ebonyi Governor, Dave Umahi, said governors had established that DisCos made no significant investment in the power sector since 2013. The first observation is that they (DisCos) have not done any substantial investment so far”, Umahi replied to a question on the position of the governors. Of course, nobody is happy with the DisCos’ performance and we have a committee chaired by the governor of Kaduna state and they have done very beautiful job. They have placed advertisements in about five newspapers and have asked the general public to give them information on performance of these DisCos and also investments made by private individuals and private sectors. And also the governors are requested before the end of March to also submit all their investments from 2013 to date, so that we will get it all together and were directed by the electricity authority to stamp our claims. I think the Federal Government is trying to take the bull by the horn by trying to find out what investments these DisCos made towards this privatization. The first suspicion is that they have made no substantial investment and we will take it when we get all the solutions.”
The El-Rufai committee had the mandate of NEC to investigate the ownership structure of the DisCos and to establish the equity share holding of the states amid poor power supply in the country. Dave Umahi, added: “He (El-Rufai) also told NEC that there will be carrying out forensic audit of all bank accounts of DisCos and also that the state governments to provide details of their investment of DisCos. The committee also sought approval of NEC for additional time to complete the report in two months and also the statement to file report investments in DisCos.” Umahi said the Minister of Finance/Budget Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, briefed the NEC on the repayment of the N614billion budget support facility the Buhari regime gave to many of the 36 states. He said Ahmed informed the session that N152million was deducted from the allocation of each state monthly. Umahi also said the minister gave a summary of the balances in the three major account of the country as of February 24. He said the Excess Crude Account had $71.8million, the Stabilisation Account, N34.1 billion and the Natural Resources Development Account, N101.8 billion. Umahi denied reports that governors protested the depletion of the ECA by the Buhari regime from $325million to $71.8 million. It is not true,” he said. He said all the governors agreed to the use of $250 million as investment through the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority to safeguard the future of the country.
The decision was taken at the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and attended by the governors of the 36 states. Briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the over five-hour meeting, Ebonyi Governor, Dave Umahi, said governors had established that DisCos made no significant investment in the power sector since 2013. The first observation is that they (DisCos) have not done any substantial investment so far”, Umahi replied to a question on the position of the governors. Of course, nobody is happy with the DisCos’ performance and we have a committee chaired by the governor of Kaduna state and they have done very beautiful job. They have placed advertisements in about five newspapers and have asked the general public to give them information on performance of these DisCos and also investments made by private individuals and private sectors. And also the governors are requested before the end of March to also submit all their investments from 2013 to date, so that we will get it all together and were directed by the electricity authority to stamp our claims. I think the Federal Government is trying to take the bull by the horn by trying to find out what investments these DisCos made towards this privatization. The first suspicion is that they have made no substantial investment and we will take it when we get all the solutions.”
The El-Rufai committee had the mandate of NEC to investigate the ownership structure of the DisCos and to establish the equity share holding of the states amid poor power supply in the country. Dave Umahi, added: “He (El-Rufai) also told NEC that there will be carrying out forensic audit of all bank accounts of DisCos and also that the state governments to provide details of their investment of DisCos. The committee also sought approval of NEC for additional time to complete the report in two months and also the statement to file report investments in DisCos.” Umahi said the Minister of Finance/Budget Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, briefed the NEC on the repayment of the N614billion budget support facility the Buhari regime gave to many of the 36 states. He said Ahmed informed the session that N152million was deducted from the allocation of each state monthly. Umahi also said the minister gave a summary of the balances in the three major account of the country as of February 24. He said the Excess Crude Account had $71.8million, the Stabilisation Account, N34.1 billion and the Natural Resources Development Account, N101.8 billion. Umahi denied reports that governors protested the depletion of the ECA by the Buhari regime from $325million to $71.8 million. It is not true,” he said. He said all the governors agreed to the use of $250 million as investment through the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority to safeguard the future of the country.
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