The federal government has ordered the resale of electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) under the management of banks and the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) within three months, to reputable technical power operators.
LEADERSHIP checks revealed that five DisCos are currently under the management of AMCON and bank lenders. These are Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), which is currently under the management of the United Bank of Africa (UBA), while Fidelity Bank and Afreximbank had in 2022 taken over the management of Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), and Kano Electricity Distribution Company while Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) is under the AMCON management.
The DisCos were taken over following their inability to pay off loans taken by the core investors to buy 60 per cent ownership of the power assets during the privatisation exercise in 2013.
The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, revealed the latest development on Monday to members of the Senate Committee on Power, during an oversight visit to the ministry in Abuja, that the energy distribution assets are technical and as such, they should be under the management of technical experts.
“We have put pressure on NERC to make sure that they raise the bar of regulatory activities on electricity distribution companies (DisCos). If they have to withdraw licences for non-performance, why not? If they have to change the board and management, why not?”
“All the DisCos that are still under AMCON and bank lenders, within the next three months they must be sold to technical power operators with good reputation in utility management. We can no longer afford AMCON or the banks to run our Discos. This is a technical industry and must be run by technical experts,” Adelabu stated.
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