Over the weekend, the nation’s power crisis worsened following the mass disconnection of historic debtors by all the electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs), to protest the huge sum of unpaid electricity bills by this class of consumers, which includes residential, commercial, industrial and government establishments, reports ITRealms.
As at last
calculation, ITRealms gathered, government establishments, including the military
and security agencies owed a total sum of ₦93billion to the DISCOs, whereas the
figure comprised ₦39.1 billion pre-privatisation of electricity assets and ₦39.5
billion post-privatisation, and an outstanding ₦15billion bulk trade charges
for late payment of electricity bills.
ITRealms
recalls that two weeks ago, a deadline was given by the DISCOs within which
debtors were to pay their debts or have their electricity supply disconnected,
according to the Executive Director, Association of Nigeria Electricity
Distributors (ANED),Mr. Sunday Oduntan, his member-companies had to carry out
its threat when it became obvious that there was nothing on the table.
“Although
we appreciate the efforts of the Vice President, Professor YemiOsinbajo and the
Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. BabatundeFashola, the stark reality
is that there is nothing concrete to hold on to. This was due to the fact that
President Buhari has no provision for them in the 2016 budget.
Oduntan
also alleged that “No allowance for MDAs debt to DISCOs in the budget, even
though we started discussion before the budget was passed. The indebtedness has
become so huge that we are truly troubled about how the government would
resolve this without a budgetary allocation.”
He
explained that the current mass disconnection protest embarked upon by DISCOs
was not an exercise targeted at MDAs but all historic debtors.
Okoli
Vincent/Vanguard/GEE
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