The Interview Editors
The National Economic Council on Thursday ordered a forensic audit of the electricity Distribution Companies in the country.
The NEC meeting, which was chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and attended by the governors of the 36 states, also asked each of the governors to submit the details of their states’ investment in the DisCos.
A sub-committee of NEC headed by the Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, proposed the forensic audit to the NEC’s meeting on Thursday.
The committee had the mandate of NEC to investigate the ownership structure of the DisCos and to establish the shareholding of the states amid the power sector challenges being faced by Nigerians.
It is also to establish how much investment the DisCos have made in the power sector since the commencement of privatisation in 2013.
The Deputy Governor of Edo State, Mr. Phillip Shuaibu, who spoke on NEC’s discussions on the DisCos, said the el-Rufai committee was given additional two weeks to submit the report of its findings.
“He ( el-Rufai) told NEC that they will be carrying out a forensic audit of all bank accounts of DisCos and also that the state governments are to provide details of their investment of the DisCos.
“The committee also sought approval of NEC for additional time to complete the report in two months and also to file a report on the investment by the DisCos.”
Ebonyi State Governor, Mr. David Umahi, who participated at yesterday’s NEC (Thursday), informed journalists at the State House that so far, the governors had established that the DisCos made no significant investment in the power sector since 2013.
“The first observation is that they (DisCos) have not done any substantial investment so far”, Umahi said, when responding to a question on the position of the governors.
Umahi also disclosed that the Minister of Finance/Budget Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, briefed the NEC on the repayment of the N614bn budget support facility President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration gave to many of the 36 states.
He said Ahmed informed the session that N152m was deducted from the allocation of each state monthly.
However, when he was asked for more details, Umahi said he did not have the figures for total deductions made so far and the balance outstanding against the affected states.
