The Federal Government has allocated N100 billion as the second installment of the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI).
According to the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursement report for June 2024, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), this amount comes from revenue generated in May and distributed in June.
It was reported that N120 billion was deducted from April’s revenue as the first installment for the PMI.
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This means a total of N220 billion has been withdrawn from the federation account for this initiative.
In May, Adebayo Adelabu, the Minister of Power, stated that the government would initially provide N75 billion as seed capital. Additionally, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) committed to contributing at least N250 billion annually for the duration of the initiative.
The minister also revealed that the initiative would leverage debt financing from various financial institutions to enhance the PMI’s resources.
The Managing Director of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Mr. Victor Ojelabi, recently mentioned that the PMI could unlock approximately N1 trillion in revenue currently tied up in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) due to the large number of unmetered customers.
Under the initiative, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) announced the approval of N21 billion for the 11 electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) to provide meters to end-use customers at no cost.
This information was detailed in ORDER NO: NERC/2024/072 on the Operationalization of “Tranche A” of the Presidential Metering Initiative Under the Framework of Meter Acquisition Fund.
At a meeting, a Finance Commissioner from a South-South state expressed that FAAC members expected to receive details on the implementation modalities of the proposed PMI, rather than a request for a N120 billion deduction from the Federation Account.
Another Finance Commissioner from a different state noted that there had been no agreement with stakeholders justifying the current deduction, and called for transparency and accountability.
A Finance Commissioner from the South West raised concerns about using public funds for privately owned DISCOs, citing accountability issues.
In response, FAAC Chairman and Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, stressed the urgency of the project and called for understanding, noting that delaying the deduction would negatively impact implementation.
