The Minister of
Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has warned electricity
distribution companies (DisCos) in the country to stop pressuring the federal
government over outstanding debts allegedly owed them by its ministries,
departments and agencies (MDA), indicating that the debts would only be paid
upon proper verification.
Fashola also advised
the DisCos to pursue the debt issue in their capacities as Distribution
Companies and not under the aegis of any association since the privatization
exercise that led to the transfer of the power distribution assets was not held
between the federal government and any association but 11 individual companies.
The Minister, who
said this at the opening session of the 10th Monthly Meeting with Power Sector
Operators in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, expressed his disappointment that the
companies had placed advertorials under the aegis of the Association of
Nigerian Electricity Distribution Companies, which failed to tell Nigerians the
whole truth about the debts, pointing out that the DisCos had so far failed to
provide details of such debts for verification.
Describing the
advertorials (titled “MDA debts not yet paid” with other sidelines such as “MDA
pay your debts so that we can serve Nigerians better”) as a blackmail against
the federal government, Fashola declared, “Let me say without any equivocation
that government will not succumb to this blackmail, at least not the Federal
Government of Nigeria.
“I think that advert should have told the
Nigerian public that at our meeting in Sokoto, we provided an online platform
where we asked all the DisCos to submit details of their debts to that platform
so that we can verify it. I think that advert should have told Nigerians how
many DisCos have complied with that instruction. That advert should also have
told Nigerians how much was owed and to which DisCo.”
Noting that
government would not succumb to blackmail, Fashola again declared, “It is
important to remind Nigerians that the privatisation exercise did not vest the
DisCos in an association instead it was vested in 11 individual companies”.
“So while I respect
the rights of association, indeed our Constitution allows freedom of
association, the Nigeria government will not pay its debts estimated to be
about N100 billion under the aegis of an association. That is not how to
resolve debts. Every DisCo knows how much power it supplied. Debts are not
calculated by estimates. It is either N100 billion or less than N100 billion,
but not an estimate,” he said.
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