By Patrick Andrew Abuja
Th e Minister of Power Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has called on the federal government to extend its ‘whistle blowing’ policy to the power sector to curb energy theft. Also, the minister has directed electricity distribution companies to call their staff to order over frequent and indiscriminate disconnection of their customers.
Th e minister, who made the suggestion in Enugu at the 16th Power sector monthly meeting, is convinced that the policy would have positive impact in the energy in the same way it is has assisted the government to recover stolen funds from corrupt former government offi cials.
Fa s h o l a s a i d h e w a s embarrassed by frequent cases of electricity theft by some unscrupulous Nigerians stressing that it has constituted a huge leakage in the fi nances of electricity distribution companies. According to him, available statistics has shown that the huge energy theft by Nigerians was not only affecting the profit margin of electricity fi rms but has had adverse eff ect on their investment capacities and ultimately dismal supply of electricity to consumers.
The minister said that statistics revealed that only six million households consumed energy in the country, adding “if this is correct, it means that some people steal energy in the country, while only a few pay. “The statistics cannot be correct and it is therefore necessary to extend whistle blowing to the power sector in order to expose those stealing our energy,” he said.
The minister said unless something is done, those who pay for energy consumption will continue to bear the overall cost but without enjoying adequate power supply noting that “When all households who used energy were not captured, the ones captured were bound to pay more tariff s.” He called on Nigerians to be vigilant and report those who stole energy in their neighbourhood to law enforcement agencies. He said that government
was not pleased with most power distribution companies, whom he said, were far from attaining the mandate given to them since the privatisation of the sector. He expressed dismay over cases of frequent disconnections of customers with fl imsy excuses stressing that he was disturbed and t h e re f o re d i re c t e d t h e distribution companies to call their staff to order, saying “they are giving their customers hard times through indiscriminate disconnections. He said that efforts to improve power supply across the country were on course, adding that more megawatts of electricity would be added to the national grid before the end of the year.
