The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been requested by the House of Representatives to furnish specifics regarding the loans given to the authorised distribution firms (DisCos) in the framework of the national mass metering project (NMMP).
During Thursday’s plenary session, the resolution was approved by the lower house of parliament.
Uchenna Okonkwo, a legislator for the Idemili north/Idemili south federal district of Anambra state, supported the resolution.
In August 2020, former President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a nationwide metering of electricity consumers to check estimated billings.
The intervention was intended to increase the metering rate, eliminate arbitrary estimated billing, strengthen the local meter manufacturing sector, job creation and reduction of collections losses.
While the CBN has disbursed billions of naira to DisCos under the NMMP, several homes are without meters.
Leading debate on the motion, Okonkwo said there have been reports of discrepancies, mismanagement, and non-compliance with the terms and conditions of the loans disbursed under the NMMP by some DisCos, leading to inefficiencies, underperformance, and failure to achieve the objectives of the NMMP.
He said the lack of proper oversight, monitoring and evaluation of funds disbursed under the programme by the CBN “has created opportunities for corruption, diversion, and misappropriation of public resources”.
The motion was unanimously adopted when it was put to a voice vote by Tajudeen Abbas, the speaker of the house.
After the adoption of the motion, the house asked the CBN to provide a detailed report on the implementation of the NMMP, including the number of loans disbursed and their status to the parliament.
The house also asked the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to provide a “comprehensive assessment” of the performance of the DisCos in metering customers and eliminating estimated billing.
The green chamber further mandated the committees on power, banking regulations, rural electrification agency, housing and habitat to investigate the disbursement and use of funds under the NMMP by the CBN to ascertain the level of compliance with the terms and conditions of the loans.
