THE Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) on Sunday said the Federal Government (FG) failed to deliver N100billion subsidy to electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos).
This was even as it raised concerns over recent ‘restructuring’ of the five electricity distribution companies (DisCos), as announced by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) on July 5, in collaboration with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
In a statement issued by its Director, Research and Advocacy, Sunday Oduntan, it described the “restructuring” as inconsistent with all the guidelines and processes necessary to comply with the framework of privatisation agreements and the rule of law.
“We believe that it is reasonable to conclude that the resultant outcome has been an expropriation or backdoor renationalisation of the DisCos by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN).
“Such renationalisation or expropriation must be viewed through a historical context as necessary for a proper understanding of the performance challenges that the DisCos have been faced with since privatization,” the statement added.
It said apart from flawed privatisation, the government among others, also committed to and failed to deliver on; DisCos’ debt-free financial books; Payment of Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDA) electricity debts; Implementation of a cost reflective electricity tariff which led to accrued significant debt and liabilities on the DisCos’ financial books, as they continued to sell electricity below the cost price).
“These commitments have remained largely unmet over the post-privatisation period and have belatedly been partially addressed – too late to rectify current performance challenges.
“While the DisCos are not exonerated from responsibility for performance failures, it would be unrealistic to reach related conclusions without taking into consideration the factors that have been listed previously, as well as the FGN’s contributions to these challenges,” it noted.
However, it warned the expropriation or renationalisation of the DisCos will not change the current bleak situation or outlook of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
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The PDP spokesman recalled how the opposition party had on various occasions alerted that the APC government had ceded sovereignty over a large portion of our country to terrorists, “many of whom were imported into our country by the APC.”
He further stated: “From the video, in a brazen manner, terrorists as non-state actors boldly showed their faces, boasting, admitting and confirming their participation in the Kuje Prison break, some of whom were former prison inmates who were either jailed or awaiting trial for their previous terrorism act against our country.
“Nigerians can equally recall the confession by the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai that the APC government knows the plans and whereabouts of the terrorists but failed to act.
According to Ologunagba, about 18,000 Nigerians have been killed by terrorists between 2020 and 2022 “as the criminals continue to be emboldened by the failures and obvious complicity of the APC and to which the PDP had always drawn attention.”
“This is not politics; this is about humanity and leadership, which leadership sadly and unfortunately is missing in our country at this time,” he said.
The PDP added that it is appalled by “the lame response by the apparently helpless, clueless and deflated Buhari Presidency, wherein it told an agonizing nation that President Buhari “has done all and even more than what was expected of him as Commander in Chief by way of morale, material and equipment support to the military…”
“This is a direct admission of incapacity and failure by the Buhari Presidency and the APC. At such a time, in other climes, the President directly leads the charge and takes drastic measures to rescue and protect his citizens.
“In time of adversity, the President transmutes into Consoler-in-Chief to give hope and succour to the citizens. Painfully, Nigeria does not have a President who cares and can stand as Consoler-in-Chief to the citizens.
“It has now become very imperative for Nigerians to take note and realize that the only solution to this unfortunate situation is to hold the APC government accountable. We must come together as a people, irrespective of our political, ethnic and religious affiliations to resist the fascist-leaning tendencies of the APC administration.
Ologunagba called for an urgent meeting of the National Council of State to advise on the way to go over the nation’s worsening insecurity.
“Our nation must not fall. The resilient Nigerian spirit and ‘can-do- attitude’ must be rekindled by all to prevail on the President to immediately and without further delay, accede to the demand by the PDP and other well-meaning Nigerians to convene a special session of the National Council of State to find a lasting solution since the President has, in his own admission, come to his wit’s end,” the PDP spokesman declared.
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