The federal government has ordered a forensic audit of the
operations of the electricity distribution companies (DisCos).
The decision was reached at the National Economic Council
(NEC) meeting chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday.
Speaking with reporters at the end of the meeting, Philip
Shaibu, deputy governor of Edo state, said governors were asked to submit
details of their investment in the DisCos from 2013 till date.
He also said the Nasir El-Rufai led ad-hoc committee on
power was given additional two months to audit the DisCos over their alleged
poor investment in the sector.
In January, el-Rufai had said the federal government spent
N1.7 trillion on electricity in the past three years without any significant
result.
“NEC also received an update on the review of the status of
ownership structure of electricity power distributing companies. The Kaduna
state governor briefed NEC on the progress so far made and responses so far
received from general public,” Shaibu said.
“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.
“One of the reasons the committee asked for additional two
months was to deal with two other issues that arose during NEC.
“You all know that the issue of privatization is still
questionable but nonetheless, the federal government and governors feel we should
not lament. What we should do is to look for solutions. Because if government
lament the populace will definitely lose hope.
“So they need the additional two months so that when they
are reporting to council it will be wholistic so that one council decision will
be made that will deal with the issue of the DisCos.”
Also speaking on the development, David Umahi, governor of
Ebonyi state, said the DisCos have made no significant investment in the power
sector since 2013.
“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 privatization,” the governor said.
“The first suspicion is that they have made no substantial
investment and we will take it when we get all the solutions.”
Last week, Sale Mamman, minister of power, had asked DisCos
to show capacity or step aside for other investors.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com