President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration has instructed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to revoke licenses of underperforming electricity distribution companies (DISCOs). This directive was issued by the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who criticized the DisCos for their failure to enhance supply despite ample power availability on the national grid.
Minister Adelabu urged NERC to explore innovative measures to compel DisCos to enhance supply, including imposing stringent sanctions on utilities that fail to utilize their allocations and considering the outright cancellation of licenses. He emphasized that the franchise areas covered by DISCOs were excessively large, advocating for a restructuring that would establish smaller DISCOs, each restricted to operating within a single state.
Adelabu emphasized the critical importance of improving distribution, noting that it is the segment closest to consumers and essential for effective service delivery. He highlighted ongoing discussions with the Chairman of NERC to address performance issues among electricity distribution companies nationwide.
The Minister outlined various strategies to address the distribution crisis, including capitalization of DISCOs to boost infrastructure, restructuring along state lines for manageability, and issuing new franchises to smaller companies to serve underserved areas. Adelabu reiterated that the government is prepared to take decisive action against underperforming DisCos, emphasizing that failure to provide adequate power supply could lead to license revocation. He also disclosed government plans to increase power generation from 4000MW to 6000MW within the next six months, aiming to alleviate the ongoing electricity rationing across the country.
