For improved power supply in the country, the Federal Government has directed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to withdraw licences of non-performing electricity distribution companies (DisCos).
According to the 2020 World Bank Doing Business report, Nigeria ranks 171 out of 190 countries in getting electricity and electricity access is seen as one of the major constraints for the private sector.
Straightnews learnt that lack of access to the electricity grid affects 45 percent of the population (90 million people) in Nigeria, making the country the largest number of people not connected to electricity.
Unhappy Adebayo Adelabu, the minister of power, said the DisCos are not doing enough to improve supply despite the availability of power on the national grid, and the distribution segment remains the weakest link in the electricity supply value chain.
Giving the order on Monday during a meeting with the heads of the agencies in Abuja, Adelabu said, “Distribution is our weakest point and the closest to the consumers. If we don’t get distribution right, we’re not doing anything to Nigerians. So, we need to put our efforts into this. We must intensify our efforts in ensuring that we address all issues relating to distribution.”
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“It is true that the distribution companies are in the hands of the private sector. We don’t have direct control. But we need to compel them for performance. They must perform. If they do not perform, all our effort in generation and transmission is zero.
‘‘I’ve also had a meeting with the Chairman of NERC on how to address these performance issues of the electricity distribution companies across the nation,” he added.
The minister mentioned that although they have new policies in the power sector policy framework, they still need to offer short-term solutions to the lingering crisis.
“While we have new policies in our power sector policy framework, which we’re going to finalize to address long-term issues in distribution, we must proffer short-term solutions to the lingering crisis,” Adelabu said.
“Before we get to that, we’re talking about the issue of the capitalization of the discourse, for them to inject funds, to improve infrastructure. We are talking about issues like restructuring the DisCos along state lines to make them manageable in size. Also, issuing new franchises to smaller DisCos to take over areas not being served by the existing ones or that have been underserved by the existing ones,” the minister added.
He also mentioned that DisCos that keep underperforming or not performing at all would get their licence revoked.
“I’ve said it before that non-performance of DisCos in terms of epileptic power supply qualifies as a basis for revocation of license. DisCos found-wanting will be severely dealt with because their actions or inactions directly affect the sector’s performance”.
