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The House of Representatives has asked the Federal Government to stop the planned N309 billion loan to the electricity sector.
The House also urged the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to devise a monitoring mechanism that would measure and enforce monthly remittance by DISCOs.
In a motion sponsored by Edward Gyang Pwajok (PDP, Plateau), the House said NERC should bend over backward to recoup all “mis-appropriated funds” that culminate in the accumulated market shortfalls and apply sanction to defaulters. The House said a thorough investigation into the market shortfall as well as the planned raise of N309 bond would be carried out by its joint committees of power, privatisation and commercialization and that of aids, loans and debt management.
Rep Pwajok, who said it was wrong to borrow another “massive” funds despite the N213 billion intervention by CBN in March last year, asked NERC to issue threat of license withdrawal to erring DISCOs.
His words:
“In spite of that intervention, the shortfall, instead of being wiped out, has continued to escalate at the rate of about N15 billion per month, rising to a total market shortfall of N400 billion as at December 31, 2015.
“The House is concerned that a continuing incidence of market shortfall is a distinctive action for new investors to venture into the Nigerian electricity market, the implication being that the projected generating capacity expansion is an illusion.
DISCOs, the lawmakers noted, have failed to remit in full the revenues they generated to other market participants without any sanction put in place by NERC.
