Vanguard News
Metering: FG takes delivery of 656,752 prepaid meters
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By Udeme Akpan
The Federal Government has taken delivery of 656,752 prepaid meters, under the phase 0 of the Central Bank of Nigeria-funded National Mass Metering Programme, NMMP.
This represents almost 85 percent of the one million meters to be provided to Nigerians, whose bills are still based on estimation.
However, of the 656,752 prepaid meters, 305,962 have already been installed for consumers, according to the Special Adviser to the President on Infrastructure, Mr. Ahmad Zakari.
In an interview with Vanguard, weekend, he said: “The major problem faced by the indigenous producers and Meter Asset Providers, MAPs is the pace of ramp-up of available personnel for installation. Another problem is the lack of a vital plastic component as one of the two major global suppliers (based in Germany) had shut down during the Coronavirus pandemic, resulting in pressure to the value chain.
By Emmanuel Addeh
The federal government has reiterated that the current moves to revamp the power sector using the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), Nigerians will have access to about 25GW of electricity in the next five years.
Speaking during a webinar with the Energy Transition Council, a body under the United Nations, Minister of State, Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba, who presented the keynote address at the council’s country dialogue conference, reassured that the government has the political will to make sure the goal is achieved.
Jedy-Agba explained that the country was experiencing a turning point in the power sector, noting that the ministry was exploring ways of localising the energy value chain in Nigeria and giving priority to technology transfer and capacity building.
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Published 6 May 2021
Power consumer groups have called for increased and stable electricity from distribution companies following the N120bn capital expenditure fund provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria for the improvement of distribution infrastructure.
Officials of Electricity Consumers Association of Nigeria and the Nigeria Electricity Consumers Advocacy Network commended the Federal Government for the intervention through the CBN, but insisted that the funds must impact positively on the power sector.
Last week, the Special Adviser to the President on Infrastructure, Ahmad Zakari, revealed that the CBN had provided funding for capital expenditure by Discos in order to improve electricity distribution across the country.
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The intervention by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the metering challenges in the power sector, has started to yield the needed results, it was learnt yesterday.
Last week, the Special Adviser to the President on Infrastructure, Mr. Ahmad Zakari, confirmed that the federal government was revving up its disbursement of a N120 billion capital expenditure (CAPEX) to improve infrastructure, especially to support the metering programme by the Distribution Companies (Discos).
It was gathered that a number of approvals had been made by the apex bank beginning from the last quarter of last year, with disbursements standing at N14.35 billion as at December 24, meant for the procurement of an additional 263,000 metering devices.
Energy
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Agency (NERC) has said from July it would again review, nay increase electricity tariffs across board in the country. This is as the quality and stability of supply continues to dwindle by the day. Like in the past, it’s almost a done deal, unless President Muhammadu Buhari steps in or declines to approve the hike. Emmanuel Addeh writes that despite such exercises in the past, Nigerians who have always been at the receiving end, have not experienced commensurate value from the sector.
Again, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Agency (NERC), which now appears to be seen or heard only when plans are underway to embark on reviews, as if that’s its only statutory function, has announced that Nigerians may pay more for the elusive power supply a few months from now.