The Convener and Executive Director of PowerUp Nigeria, Consumer Right, and Power Sector Policy Advocacy Organisation, Mr. Adetayo Adegbemle, has called for the review of the award of N1.2bn metering award to the De Haryor Global Services Limited over the allegation that the company is listed among NERC approved MAPs’ providers.The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is empowered by law to regulate the country’s power sector including power generation, transmission, distribution, and metering.
But the Minister of Power, Chief Bayo Adelabu, has refuted the allegation, saying that the award of the contract had solved a 20-year lingering problem in the sector.
However, Adegbemle in a statement sent to Blueprint, on Tuesday night alleged that the award of the metering contract was done in secrecy, saying that there was no evidence of public tender/bid for the N40 billion worth of contract, neither was there any evidence of meeting the Procurement Act procedures.
” On March 18th, 2024, the Minister (of Power) announced the award of a N12.7 billion contract to a little-known company called De Haryor Global Services Limited. Before this announcement, the company, De Haryor Global Services Limited, is not known to have handled any installation of this magnitude.
“De Haryor Global Services Limited is not a registered Meter Manufacturing/Assemblers Company, neither is it on the list of Manufacturers/Assemblers at the Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Trade and Investment, and is not on the first schedule of NERC Approved MAPs.
‘There’s no evidence of public tender/bid for this N40 billion worth of contract, neither is there any evidence of meeting the Procurement Act procedures. If anyone insists there’s a public tender, let them provide the names of other companies that bid for the installations. There’s no budgetary allocation for this project, neither in the Ministry of Power, nor the Ministry of Finance,” Adegbemle said.
But Adelabu in a statement issued by his Special Adviser, Strategic Communications and Media Relations, Mr. Bolaji Tunji, explained that the Federal government had entered a tripartite agreement with Messrs Ziklagsis Network limited and Unistar International in 2003 for the supply of three million meters to distribution companies (DISCOs) in the country, within three years.
To kick start the project, he said a revolving metering loan of N32billion was released to Messrs Ziklagsis, adding that the agreement was not implemented while the fund remained in the bank account of Ziklagsis at the then Prudent Bank from where it moved to Skye Bank, Polaris and lately, Providus bank.