…‘Wilful non-performance won’t be tolerated’
The Federal Government has on Wednesday lamented on the poor power supply which has thrown manynparts of the nation into darkness for months, this he blamed on the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) and confirmed DisCos to be held accountable henceforth for poor power supply in the nation.
Following the disgrace of non performance brought by the failure of DisCos to supplying power to the nation regularly, the Power Minister, Adebayo Adelabu has threatened to revoke its licences if no improvement in few days to come.
Hear him, “Moving forward, I’m committed to holding all distribution companies accountable for their performance.
“Wilful non-performance will not be tolerated, and severe consequences, including licence revocation, may be imposed,” the minister said in a statement.
He regrettably expressed concern over epileptic electricity supply, Adelabu also went further to summon the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for an emergency meeting on Tuesday.
Notably, electricity supply has dipped across the country in the last three months even though many reasons are given, including lack of adequate gas supply, grid breakdown, low supply from Generating Companies (GenCos), the inability of DisCos to wheel supply from GenCos and sabotage, have been adduced for the constant outage.
The minister also expressed concern over the poor performance of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) while twitting on his X handle, reiterated the reasons for summoning the AEDC and IBEDC chief executives and the TCN Managing Director.
He gave the reason as an attempt to find a plausible solution to the power supply in their zones.
Adelabu described as “disheartening” the decline in power supply despite the concerted efforts to improve the situation.
He noted that his Ministry has been exerting pressure on the GenCos to enhance their performance, resulting in a recent increase in generation to over 4000MW.
“Despite this progress”, the minister said, “certain distribution companies are failing to adequately distribute the power supplied by TCN, while vandalism of power infrastructure exacerbates the problem in regions such as Abuja, Benin, Port Harcourt, and Ibadan.
“The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the worsening power supply in their respective regions and to collectively find lasting solutions.”
The minister threatened to henceforth hold the DisCos accountable for their performance.
He said: “Willful non-performance will not be tolerated, and severe consequences, including license revocation, may be impose
“Additionally, I have instructed TCN to prioritise repair works on damaged transmission towers and power lines to improve supply in affected regions.”
Adelabu recalled that during recent supervisory visits to power-generating plants, he witnessed firsthand the challenges faced by the sector but mentioned plans to settle outstanding debts to power generation and gas supply companies, which will alleviate the financial strain and contribute to improved generation levels nationwide.
At the end, Adelabu pleads with consumers for understanding, as his team are making serious efforts to tackle the challenges.
He concluded, “I urge electricity consumers to remain patient as we work tirelessly to address these issues and provide better service to all Nigerians.”