The National Economic Council (NEC) adhoc committee has indicted Distribution Companies (DisCos) accusing them of shorting changed Nigerians by N164 billion because of under investment.
This is as a result of their breaching their Performance Agreement Target between 2015 and 2018.
The companies however raked in N147 billion from investments on their networks by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company and the Rural Electrification, Agency.
The NEC had set up the committee chaired by the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai to investigate the ownership structure of the DisCos.
The committee submitted its report to NEC presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in Abuja on Thursday.
The Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdullahi Sule,while giving the highlights of the report at the press briefing said the privatised power sector generally “under-performed.”
For instance, it noted that total indebtedness stood at N230 billion including “N48 billion of MDAs’ indebtedness to DisCos.”
It added that “DisCos indebtedness is driven by collection short fall and low remittance.”
Specifically on the breach of agreement, the report noted, “Between 2015-2018, DisCos under- invested relative to their Performance Agreement Target by N164 billion (67%) and benefited from investments by NDPHC/REA in their networks to the tune N147 billion.
“Board composition across DisCos are disproportionately skewed toward private investors, while states and LGAs have no representation.”
Source: The Sun
