Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

The Federal Government has granted the Nasir El-Rufai led ad-hoc committee on power an additional two months to carry out a thorough forensic audit of power Distribution Companies of Nigeria (DisCos) following suspicions of poor investment in the sector.

The committee had disclosed that the Federal Government has spent N1.7 trillion on electricity in the last three years with no tangible results to show for it.

The decision was taken at the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and attended by the governors of the 36 states.

The governors were also asked to each submit the details of their states’ investment in the DisCos from 2013 till date.

The El-Rufai Committee had the mandate of the NEC to investigate the ownership structure of the DisCos and to establish the equity shareholding of the states amid poor power supply in the country.

Briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the over five-hour meeting, Deputy Governor of Edo State Philip Shaibu said: “NEC also receive an update on the review of the status of the ownership structure of electricity power distributing companies. The Kaduna State governor briefed NEC on the progress so far made and responses so far received from the general public.”

Shaibu, who was flanked at the briefing by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Ebonyi State Governor Dave Umahi, added: “He (El-Rufai) also told NEC that there will be carrying out a forensic audit of all bank accounts of DisCos and also that the state governments to provide details of their investment of DisCos.

“The committee also sought approval of NEC for additional time to complete the report in two months and also the statement to file report investments in DisCos.”

Ebonyi Governor Umahi, on his part, said that so far, the governors had established that the DisCos made no significant investment in the power sector since 2013.

“The first observation is that they (DisCos) have done any substantial investment so far”, Umahi replied to a question on the position of the governors.

According to him, “nobody is happy with the DisCos performance and we have a committee chaired by the governor of Kaduna state and they have done a very beautiful job. They have placed advertisements in about five newspapers and have asked the general public to give them information on the performance of these DisCos and also investments made by private individuals and private sectors. And also the governors are requested before the end of March to also submit all their investments from 2013 to date so that we will get it all together and were directed by the electricity authority to stamp our claims.

“I think the Federal Government is trying to take the bull by the horn by trying to find out what investments these DisCos made towards this privatization. The first suspicion is that they have made no substantial investment and we will take it when we get all the solutions.”

Shaibu added: “One of the reasons the committee asked for an additional two months was to deal with two other issues that arose during NEC. And one of those issues was the issue of forensic and to ascertain the level of investment by DisCos. You all know that the issue of privatisation is still questionable but nonetheless, the federal government and governors feel we should not lament, what we should do is look for solution. Because if government lament the populace will definitely lose hope. So they need the additional two months so that when they are reporting to the council it will be wholistic so that one council decision will be made that will deal with the issue of the DisCos.”

Meanwhile, Umahi said the Minister of Finance and Budget Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, briefed the NEC on the repayment of the N614billion budget support facility the Buhari administration gave to many of the 36 states.

He said Ahmed informed the session that N152million was deducted from the allocation of each state monthly.

Umahi also said the minister gave a summary of the balances in the three major account of the country as of February 24.

He said the Excess Crude Account had $71.8million; the Stabilisation Account, N34.1 billion and the Natural Resources Development Account, N101.8 billion.

Umahi denied reports that governors protesting the “depletion” of the ECA by the Buhari administration from $325million to $71.8 million saying, “It is not true.”

According to him, all the governors agreed to the use of $250m as investment through the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority to safeguard the future of the country.

He added that another $4 million was spent on consultancy services to save the country from paying almost $500 million over some investments the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation entered into on behalf of the country.

Umahi explained further that “$250 million was an agreed investment by governors and Federal Government on NSIA – National Sovereign Investment Authority and they are doing very well.

“They are handling our infrastructure so nicely that it was further agreed that we should reinvest into it. When these investments are made the federal, state and local governments all get their investment certificate. So we are together in this.

“You also asked where is the other $4 million, it was used in paying consultancy and services that would have caused the fund about $500 million, it was renegotiated to $4 million because some people went to court over certain transactions in NNPC and so federal government had to engage consultant to handle that.

“We would have paid the consultants five per cent of the cost that they were seeking and it would have translated into $500 million.

“So, if you add $250m plus $4 million you will get $254 million, and if you add $71 million, you get $325 million. We are back to where we were. So no money is missing,” he said.