N37bn meter procurement: Expert tasks FG on investigation

A renewable energy expert, Mr Chinedu Amah, has urged President Bola Tinubu to set up a committee to look into the alleged N37 billion investment project in free meter procurement and installation meant for Nigerians.

Amah, who is the founder of Spark Nigeria Ltd., made the appeal in an interview with our reporter on Tuesday in Lagos.

He said, “all forms of stealing from our commonwealth should be treated as criminal and the perpetrators be brought to book.

“The government agencies should be made to stop getting involved through direct cash or capital injection into the private sector, especially when accountability remains a serious issue.”

He said that the process of the free meters procurement needed to be audited, adding that if people were found wanting, they should be brought to justice and made to refund the country.

According to Amah, the industry is going to face serious challenges with regards to customers who had already paid meters and would be seeking for refund.

“The policies which gave life to the Credit Advance Payment for Metering Installation (CAPMI) and the Meter Asset Providers (MAP) failed to put into consideration the liquidity issues faced by the sector, therefore has failed to resolve and implement the meter refund side of those programmes.

“Millions of Nigerians have paid different sums over the last couple of years on the premise that their purchase will be refunded; I do not think any refund has happened to this day.

“It will take one class action lawsuit and the industry will fall flat on debt to customers and interests which will roll into hundreds of millions of Naira,’’ he said.

It was reported that the Federal Government National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) targeted to meter four million power users in phases under the Meter Asset Providers funded by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The NMMP is an initiative of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission in conjunction with the Presidential Power Task Force.

The initiative was inaugurated in August 2020 to allow the CBN to fund the acquisition of meters on behalf of distribution companies by paying directly to the MAPs.

The free metering programme commenced with phase zero where one million meters were supposed to have been
distributed.