The Federal Government has accused electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) of frustrating ongoing reforms in Nigeria’s power sector, despite gains in electricity generation and transmission.
Speaking during a two-day retreat organised by the Senate Committee on Power, Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said DisCos have become the biggest challenge in the sector due to poor performance, financial mismanagement, and failure to invest in infrastructure.
“DisCos have disappointed us,” Adelabu said. “Whatever we achieve in generation and transmission means nothing if distribution fails.”
He explained that many of the DisCos, since the 2013 privatisation, have failed to bring in the technical partners they promised and instead diverted funds meant for infrastructure development to repay acquisition loans.
The minister pointed out that vandalism, electricity theft, and bypassing of meters are also major problems, calling on the National Assembly to criminalise such actions.
Adelabu said that while the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has installed 74 high-capacity transformers since 2024, its progress is limited by funding constraints and rampant vandalism. He urged lawmakers to include TCN in the national budget, as it currently survives on limited internal revenue.
On the financial side, Adelabu revealed that Northern DisCos remitted just 30% of their N408.86 billion invoice in Q4 2024, while Southern DisCos performed slightly better at 67%. He said most of the revenue from the South comes from Lagos alone, with other areas suffering due to crumbling infrastructure.
The minister also flagged the large metering gap and rising subsidy burden. Only 75,000 meters were installed in April under the N700 billion Presidential Metering Initiative, with a N4 trillion subsidy backlog threatening the sector’s financial health.
To address these challenges, Adelabu said the government is working on restructuring underperforming DisCos, enforcing stricter performance standards, and encouraging private investment in the distribution network.
He also noted ongoing efforts to revive key power projects, including the 1,000MW Makurdi hydropower project, the 215MW Kaduna thermal plant, and the 10MW Katsina wind farm.
“We must fix distribution or all our progress in generation and transmission will not matter,” he warned.
