The National Executive Council (NEC) has empowered its ad-hoc committee on Power led by Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State to carry out a forensic audit of the bank accounts of Distribution Companies (DisCos), following their below-par performance.
The Federal Government is irked that despite its N1.7 billion investment in the last three years, the companies have failed to deliver enough electricity to Nigerians.
The el-Rufai committee was set up with the mandate to investigate the ownership structure of the DisCos and to establish the equity shareholding of the states.
The decision to do a thorough forensic audit on the DisCos was reached at the council’s meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the presidential villa, Abuja on Thursday.
Briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the meeting, Deputy Governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu said state governors were advised to forward the details of their states’ investments in the DisCos from 2013 till date.
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According to him, the Kaduna governor briefed NEC on the progress so far made and responses received from general public, saying: “He (el-Rufai) also told NEC that they will be carrying out forensic audit of all bank accounts of DisCos and also that the state governments to provide details of their investment of DisCos.
“The committee also sought approval of NEC for additional time to complete the report in two months and also the statement to file report investments in DisCos.”
Shaibu added: “One of the reasons the committee asked for additional two months was to deal with two other issues that arose during NEC. And one of those issues was the issue of forensic and to ascertain the level of investment by DisCos.
“You all know that the issue of privatisation is still questionable, but nonetheless, the federal government and governors feel we should not lament. What we should do is look for solution because if government laments, the populace will definitely lose hope.
“So, they need the additional two months so that when they are reporting to council, it will be holistic so that one council decision will be made that will deal with the issue of the DisCos.”
In his remark, Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, said so far, the governors had established that the DisCos made no significant investment in the power sector since 2013.
He added: “The first observation is that they (DisCos) have not done any substantial investment so far.”
On the position of governors on the matter, Umahi said: “Of course, nobody is happy with the DisCos’ performance and we have a committee chaired by the governor of Kaduna state and they have done very beautiful job.
“They have placed advertisements in about five newspapers and have asked the general public to give them information on performance of these DisCos and also investments made by private individuals and private sectors.
“And also, the governors are requested before the end of March to also submit all their investments from 2013 to date, so that we will get it all together and were directed by the electricity authority to stamp our claims.
“I think the Federal Government is trying to take the bull by the horn by trying to find out what investments these DisCos made towards this privatisation.
“The first suspicion is that they have made no substantial investment and we will take it when we get all the solutions.”
Umahi has also said that the Minister of Finance/Budget Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, briefed the NEC on the repayment of the N614 billion budget support facility taken by state governments.
He said Ahmed informed the session that N152 million was deducted from the allocation of each state monthly.
Umahi also said the minister gave a summary of the balances in the three major accounts of the country as of February 24.
According to him, the Excess Crude Account had $71.8million; the Stabilisation Account, N34.1 billion and the Natural Resources Development Account, N101.8 billion.
Umahi said state governors did not protest the “depletion” of the ECA by the Buhari regime from $325million to $71.8 million saying that the report, “is not true.”
He explained that the governors agreed to the use of $250 million as an investment through the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority to safeguard the future of the country.
According to him, another $4 million was spent on consultancy services to save the country from paying almost $500 million over some investments the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) entered into on behalf of the country.
Umahi added: “First, it (depletion protest) is not true. $250 million was an agreed investment by governors and federal government on NSIA – National Sovereign Investment Authority and they are doing very well.
“They are handling our infrastructure so nicely that it was further agreed that we should reinvest into it. When these investments are made the federal, state and local governments all get their investment certificate. So, we are together in this.
“You also asked where is the other $4 million. It was used in paying consultancy and services that would have caused the fund about $500 million. It was renegotiated to $4 million because. Some people went to court over certain transactions in NNPC and, so Federal Government had to engage consultant to handle that.
“We would have paid the consultants five per cent of the cost that they were seeking and it would have translated into $500 million.
“So, if you add $250 million plus $4 million, you will get $254 million and if you add $71 million, you get $325 million. We are back to where we were. So no money is missing.”
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