- As Investors get FG’s nod to meter electricity customers
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo may have started another war with the members of the National Assembly when he described the constituency projects being embarked upon by the lawmakers as “corruption.”
Obasanjo said this at the opening of a two-day investment forum organised by the Niger State Government in Minna on Monday.
The forum had “Impact of Investing for Advancing Agricultural Economy and Innovation,” as its theme.
Obasanjo said, “The Sultan talked about roads, I hope our lawmakers will use their position and act positively so that when they put in road projects in the budget they will not turn it into what they now term as constituency projects.
“You and I know what constituency projects mean. It is simply corruption.”
The former President had been involved in verbal wars with the members of the National Assembly during and after his time in office.
He once, reportedly, described the federal lawmakers as a “bunch of corrupt elements,” provoking the lawmakers to, in turn, describe him as “the father of corruption in Nigeria.”
Obasanjo said federal and state governments should embark on massive rural and urban road construction to facilitate the movement of agricultural products from the farms to the markets.
“If there is anything that will take us out of recession, it is agriculture; that is the only renewable business we can do to give us all the job creation, wealth creation that we need,” he said.
Also speaking, a former military Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar, noted that in another 33 years, the world population would hit the nine billion mark with Nigeria accounting for five per cent of this global population, stating also that by then food would be the greatest challenge.
Abubakar, therefore, advised that everything should be done to increase the cultivation of food and cash crops in the country to avoid the anticipated food shortage.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Monday declared that investors interested in providing meters for electricity customers were free to do so, provided they obtained the required clearance from the industry regulator.
According to the minister, power distribution companies do not have the monopoly of metering electricity consumers, noting that the Discos have not been able to meet the demand for meters due to funding challenges.
The minister, who disclosed this at the 18th power sector stakeholders meeting, further explained that nothing in the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act gave electricity distribution companies the exclusivity of metering in the sector.
He said, “While it is true that Discos have the obligation to meter customers, the law does not vest the monopoly of meter supply in them. Anybody who qualifies under the safety regulation by Nigeria Electricity Management Services Agency and under the licences issued by Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission can supply meters to customers under conditions by law.
“In other words, meter supply is an open but regulated business. You need the licence from NERC to undertake it. You need to comply with testing and safety standards of NEMSA to produce, install or import the meters; but it is not a monopoly for Discos.”
The minister also stated that the Discos could access a loan, which had been provided by the Federal Government in order to get meters for power users.
He said, “Another action which took place recently in the sector was the FEC approval of the component that frees the Federal Government of the judgement debt of N119bn and releases N39bn towards the supply of meters to the Discos.”
Fashola said he had been receiving enquiries from the public on whether state governments could produce their own power and stressed that all the state governments needed was to get the right licence from NERC.
The minister also said power generation companies could apply to NERC to build their own distribution assets, which some Discos could not fund.
He pledged his support to any state government intending to play in any of the power sector value chain.
Fashola said, “The mini grids are also consistent with our policy of incremental power to provide access to communities that have not been served or those who are under-served.
“Within the Discos licence, a new licence can be granted by NERC because no monopoly was intended by the law unless it is exclusively stated in the licence. I have gone through the law and I have not seen any exclusivity granted to anybody.”
Punch
