Sigh of Relief at Last as Buhari's Govt Announces Restructuring, Takeover Of Discos

• Not less than five DISCOs will be restructured and taken over by the federal government as announced on Wednesday, July 6, by NERC
• The affected DISCOs, KEDCO, IBEDC, PHED, BEDC, and Kaduna Electric, are said to be unable to repay loans they obtained for assets acquisition
• Already, the new boards to take over the DISCOs have been approved as a collaboration between the CBN and the ministry of power is ongoing to this effect

The federal government, on Wednesday, July 6, announced the restructuring of five electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) in Nigeria over their inability to repay loans obtained to pay for assets acquired in the 2013 privatisation exercise.

This development was made known 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, Channels TV reports.

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The affected DISCOs are as follows:

1. Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO)
2. Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC)
3. Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC)
4. Kaduna Electric
5. Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED)

The failure on the part of the DISCOs was disclosed by Fidelity Bank which recently made a call on the collateralised shares of KEDCO, BDEC, and Kaduna Electric.

According to the said statement, both Garba and Okoh explained that while the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) would be a placeholder board for IBEDC temporarily, the PHED will be restructured to avert insolvency.

NERC and BPE bosses noted that at the moment, the new boards for the discos have been approved and the bureau was working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the ministry of power to ensure no service disruptions during the transition.

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Ministry of power gives update on current dip in electricity

Meanwhile, the ministry of power had given an update on the current dip in electricity generation across the country.

In a terse statement sent to Legit.ng on Saturday, June 4, the ministry said the partial shutdown was caused by a gas plant in the country currently facing challenges.

The statement read in part:

“We wish to notify the general public that the current dip in electricity generation is as a result of the partial shutdown of the Oben gas plant to address the repair of critical gas processing equipment..."

Source: Legit.ng