The Federal government has announced the restructuring of five electricity distribution companies (DisCos) in the country.

The announcement was contained in a statement jointly signed by the Executive Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Sanusi Garba, and the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Alex Okoh.

The affected DisCos are the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), Kaduna Electric, and Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED).

Garba and Okoh explained that the announcement followed Fidelity Bank’s activation of the call on the collaterised shares of KEDCO, BDEC, and Kaduna Electric over their inability to repay loans obtained to pay for assets acquired in the 2013 privatisation exercise.

They added that the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) would be a placeholder board for IBEDC in a temporary capacity, while the PHED undergoes restructuring to prevent its imminent insolvency.

The NERC and BPE chiefs said the new boards for the affected discos had been approved and the Bureau was collaborating with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Ministry of Power to ensure there would be no service disruptions during the transition.

President Muhammadu Buhari had in an interview in a monitored broadcast early in the year expressed his displeasure with the state of electricity in Nigeria.

Buhari had also questioned the financial and technical competencies of the electricity distribution companies that his administration inherited.

Power generation in the country still hovers below 5,000 megawatts, despite the 13,000mw installed capacity.

Industry sources say the move on take-over and restructuring witnessed in some of the DisCos was not unconnected with the Federal government’s displeasure on the companies’ inefficiencies, despite trillions of naira spent on intervention by the government.

Harrison EDEH

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Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.