Lawmakers at the House of Representatives on Wednesday asked the Minister of Power to sanction the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) for allegedly defrauding Nigerians in their daily power distribution.
The lawmakers made the call when the Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, appeared before the House Committee on Power to defend the ministry’s 2021 budget.
Lawmakers who accused DisCos of ‘wickedness’ and ‘irresponsibility’ stated that nothing would bring Nigerians as much joy as to hear that the DisCOs have been sanctioned.
The committee chairman, Magaji Dau Aliyu, alleged the DisCos are practically cheating Nigerians who are made to pay various sums of money even after donating transformers to them.
Addressing the minister, Aliyu said: “…Please, sanction the DisCos; punish them, please. If you do that, you will be our darling and you will be a darling to Nigerians also. Really, Nigerians are cheated.
“We don’t know what is the best arrangement. Are we better of when we had PHCN (Power Holding Company of Nigeria) than we are now?
Also lending his voice to calls for sanction, Wale Raji (APC, Lagos) described the DisCos as irresponsible.
“We do not even know whether we are better off under this present arrangement or the NEPA or PHCN that we abandoned.
“Transformers will break down and when they (residents) even call on the DisCos to complain about it, some officials even take the transformers away and never return them.
“Then, the communities are forced – they have no option – to buy a new transformer. Not having money to buy it, they resort to their elected representatives who knocked on their doors for votes,” he said.
