TheCable

The Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has asked the national assembly to help recover the N21 billion owed to it by some ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

According to NAN, Adeoye Fadeyibi, managing director of EKEDC, made the appeal when the senate committee on privatisation visited the company on Tuesday.

Fadeyibi said the MDAs were the biggest debtor to EKEDC till date, adding that various efforts had been made to recover the debt but they have been unsuccessful.

The managing director said the inability of the DisCo to recover its debts from customers is impeding its efforts to invest in infrastructure upgrades — to improve power supply to customers under its network.

He said the national assembly should consider legislation against energy theft and establishment of electricity special courts to try offenders in the country.

“The biggest threat to our operations are vandals and customers who illegitimately connect to the lines causing revenue loss,” Fadeyibi said.

“Prosecution of these types of cases are often prolonged and difficult to conclude because of the technical expertise required by the bench.”

On his part, Theodore Orji, chairman of the senate committee on privatisation, acknowledged that the debt by the MDAs was huge and also an impediment to its mandate of providing quality supply of electricity to its customers.

“We believe that there is a need to repay this debt because EKEDC has thousands of Nigerians as employees and the company is providing a critical service which is electricity,” Orji said.

“We will also be looking at the issue of unauthorised persons carrying out electrical installation duties in the country because it is creating problems for the power sector.

“We want to commend the management of EKEDC for being resilient in the face of these challenges.”