22nd April, 2024
The Federal Government has vowed to resell all Distribution Companies (DisCos) still under acquisition of banks and the Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) to technical power operators within three months.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, when the Senate Committee on Power came for an oversight visit to the ministry in Abuja at the weekend.
Adelabu said very soon tough decisions would be taken on the DisCos, saying they are the last lap of the sector.
“If they don’t perform, the entire sector is not performing. The entire ministry is not performing. We have put pressure on NERC, which is their regulator to make sure they raise the bar on regulation activities,” he said.
According to Adelabu, if NERC had to withdraw licenses for non-performance, they should do it.
He added that if NERC had to change the board of management, for the DisCos to perform, they should do it.
“And all the DisCos that are still under AMCON and Banks, within the next three months, they must be sold to technical power operators with good reputations in utility management,” he said.
The Nation quoted Adelabu as saying government could no longer afford AMCON to run the DisCos.
“We can no longer afford the banks to run our DisCos. This is a technical industry and it must be run by technical experts,” he said.