FG, States and Local Governments Owe DisCos N60billion

The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, ANEDS, on Tuesday, March 29, implored President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene so that the three tiers of government could pay the N60 billion electricity bill owed.

Executive Director of ANEDS, Sunday Oduntan, who spoke in Abuja, said the Nigerian Army is the highest debtor.

He lamented that the huge debt has started weighing the power firms down.

He said: “The total amount of debt owed power distribution companies (DisCos) by ministries, departments and agencies at both the federal, state and local government levels is about N60billion. As at December last year, the total debt was N58billion, but it has grown to about N60billion as we speak.

“A large part of this debt is owed by the military. The Nigerian Army takes pleasure in beating up our staff for unjust reasons and they don’t like to pay their bills. We won’t condone this anymore and we are going to take this case up with them, particularly the recent one that happened in Abeokuta.”

He said despite the fact that the Army is owing the DisCos over N15billion, its officials are usually brutalised whenever the power firms make attempt to enforce the collection of electricity bills.

“The Nigerian Army keep oppressing us and often times they feel they are above the law, but this shouldn’t be. In Abeokuta, they beat up one of our official for unjust reasons and the same same group of military men who did that have not paid their electricity bills since 2013,” Oduntan said.

“The team in Abeokuta, which is the 351 Artillery Brigade, was led by one Major Musa and we use this medium to urge President Buhari to call the soldiers to order. They must know that they are not above the law. The army alone owe DisCos over N15billion. They owe Benin Disco N2.3billion, Eko is owed N1.9billion, Ikeja N1.6billion, Jos N2billion, Kaduna N6.6billion, Kano N301million, Port Harcourt N1.3billion, and Yola-N435million.