The Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has called on the National Assembly to assist in the recovery of N21 billion owed to it by some ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
The Managing Director of EKEDC, Adeoye Fadeyibi, during a visit by the Senate Committee on privatization’s visit to the company on Tuesday, made the appeal.
Fadeyibi stated that the MDAs remain the company’s biggest debtor to date, stressing that its efforts to recover the debts have been unsuccessful.
This he said is limiting the company in its efforts to invest in infrastructure upgrades — so as to improve power supply to customers under its network.
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He added that the national assembly should develop legislation that offers protection against energy theft and setting up of electricity special courts to try offenders in the country.
“The biggest threat to our operations are vandals and customers who illegitimately connect to the lines causing revenue loss,” Fadeyibi said.
“Prosecution of these types of cases are often prolonged and difficult to conclude because of the technical expertise required by the bench.”
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The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Privatization, Theodore Orji, acknowledged the debt being owed by MDAs was huge and also posing a problem to the mandate of providing quality supply of electricity to electricity consumers.
“We believe that there is a need to repay this debt because EKEDC has thousands of Nigerians as employees and the company is providing a critical service which is electricity,” Orji said.
“We will also be looking at the issue of unauthorised persons carrying out electrical installation duties in the country because it is creating problems for the power sector.
“We want to commend the management of EKEDC for being resilient in the face of these challenges.”
