The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, on Friday, declared that it would deduct N10,505,286,072 from the annual allowed revenues of the 11 power distribution companies during the next tariff review as part of sanctions over their non-compliance with the capping of estimated bills for unmetered customers. NERC disclosed this in a notice obtained in Abuja, stressing that the billing of unmetered customers in their various franchise areas for 2023 revealed non-compliance with the monthly energy caps issued by the commission. It said, “The public may recall that in 2020, the commission issued the order on Capping of Estimated Bills (Order No: NERC/197/2020) and subsequently issued monthly energy caps which aimed to align the estimated bills for unmetered customers with the measured consumption of metered customers on the same supply feeder. “A review of the electricity distribution companies’ billing of unmetered customers for 2023 has revealed non-compliance with the monthly energy caps issued by the commission.” In response to this and in a bid to safeguard unmetered customers from arbitrary billing by Discos, the commission stated that pursuant to Section 34(1)(d) of the Electricity Act 2023, it had issued the order on Non-Compliance with Capping of Estimated Bills (Order No: NERC/2024/004-01 4). It said the order stipulates the following: “Credit adjustment to customers: Discos are to issue credit adjustments to all over-billed unmetered customers for the period January to September 2023 by the March 2024 billing cycle. “Public notice: Discos have been directed to publish the list of credit adjustment beneficiaries in two national dailies and on their website not later than March 31, 2024. “Regulatory sanctions: The commission shall deduct a sum of N10,505,286,072 from the annual allowed revenues of the 11 Discos during the next tariff review, to deter future non-compliance with the energy caps approved by the commission.” Electricity consumers nationwide have continued to lodge complaints against excessive estimated bills by power distribution companies in Nigeria. For instance, it was reported on December 31, 2023, that power consumers lodged a total of 333,947 complaints bordering on metering, billing, and service interruption to their various distribution companies within three months. According to the report, this was disclosed in the 2023 third-quarter report of NERC, stating that the complaints were lodged in July, August, and September 2023. The report stated that the customer complaints in the third quarter were higher than what was recorded in the preceding quarter by 8,049 cases. It quoted the NERC report as saying that “the total number of complaints received across all Discos (distribution companies) in 2023/Q3 was 333,947; Ibadan Disco received the highest number of complaints (59,901), representing 17.93 per cent of the total complaints received. Abuja Disco received the least number of complaints (1,919), representing 0.57 per cent of the total complaints received” Meanwhile, the commission, on Friday, reaffirmed its commitment to regulatory compliance and consumer protection within the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry. The power sector regulator can impose various sanctions on power distribution companies for violating regulations or failing to meet performance standards. These sanctions aim to deter non-compliance and improve service delivery and there are various types of sanctions imposed on defaulting power firms in Nigeria. The regulator imposes financial penalties on power firms as fines varying in amount based on the severity of the offence. Abuja Disco, for instance, was recently ordered to refund overbilled customers and fined for violating billing regulations. Benin and Port Harcourt Discos were also fined by the regulator for failing to comply with customer complaint rulings. On Performance Improvement Plans, the commission undertakes some measures to address specific issues, such as metering, network investment, or service quality. It also enforces licence suspension/revocation, where in extreme cases, NERC can suspend or revoke Disco’s license, though this is rare. It should be noted that sanctions are just one aspect of NERC’s regulatory efforts. They also issue regulations, conduct investigations, and engage in stakeholder consultations. However, the effectiveness of sanctions is debatable, with some arguing that these sanctions have not significantly improved service delivery. Many power users under the estimated electricity bill category, have repeatedly complained of being over-billed by Discos, as they often accused NERC of not enforcing adequate sanctions on the power distributors.

  AN unidentified commercial driver who was alleged to have committed a traffic offence on Friday set on fire personnel of the Edo State Traffic Management Agency (EDSTMA) who was directed to take him and the vehicle to the EDSTMA office. It was gathered that the driver in a bus marked Osun FFE145XA beat the traffic light at Adesuwa Junction along Sapele Road and when he was stopped by traffic personnel, he was resisting arrest. A personnel was said to have thereafter been directed to take the vehicle to the office of EDTSMA and in the process, the driver stripped himself naked, took a keg of petrol from his vehicle, poured it on the driver and set him ablaze. Efforts to reach the spokesperson of the EDSTMA, Roland Owolabi were not successful but a video on social with pictures of the vehicle and personnel speaking to what looked like a phone camera said “The driver committed a traffic offence, and officers of Zone 2 Enforcement Team apprehended him and asked him to gently take the bus to the base but he refused, he resisted arrest and started fighting everyone, at the end of the day one of the officers was asked to take the bus to the base, the driver brought out petrol, got himself naked, poured the petrol on the office in the bus and set him ablaze as we speak the officer is receiving treatment in a hospital here in Benin City. The bus driver is on the run” He called on the public to release any information about the driver of the bus or the owner of the bus to the EDSTMA office or report it to the nearest police station.

  President Bola Tinubu has signed the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill, 2024, into law. Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, revealed this in a statement he signed Friday titled ‘President Tinubu assents to Electricity Act (amendment) bill.’ The Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill, 2024, seeks to “address the development and environmental concerns of host communities, and sets aside five percent of the actual annual operating expenditures of power generating companies from the preceding year for the development of their respective host communities,” the Presidency revealed. The bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives on July 27, 2023, and the Senate on November 14, 2023, was sponsored by Babajimi Benson, who represents Ikorodu Federal Constituency of Lagos State. It also further provides that the funds allocated for the development of host communities will be received, managed and administered for infrastructure development in the host communities by a reputable Trustee/Manager to be jointly appointed by the respective GENCO and their host community. Details later…

  The Governor of the Central Bank, Yemi Cardoso says the measures taken so far by the apex bank to stabilize foreign exchange rates have started yielding positive results. He noted that these measures would help to stabilise the foreign exchange rates and minimize the distortion that high exchange has on inflation, as they are closely related. Cardoso, who disclosed this during a briefing of the Joint Senate Committee on Finance, Banking, Insurance and Financial Institutions on Friday, said that $1bn has come into the Nigerian market in the past few days through the CBN interventions. “We have already begun to see shifts in the positive direction. Indeed they (CBN measures) have already started yielding early results with significant interest from foreign portfolio investors which was a concern. That has already begun to supply the much-needed foreign exchange to the economy. “For example, upward of the past few days, we have had over $1 billion that has come into the market, and this quite frankly has answered the question of if our policies are working,” Cardoso said. The CBN Chief said with the numbers available, he can say that the market has been responding to the policies they have put in place. He added that measures aimed at improving US dollar supply into the Nigerian economy have significant potential in taming the volatility of the exchange rate and in turn moderating inflation. He, however, said that for these measures to be sustainable, Nigeria must as a country moderate our demands for foreign exchange. While the CBN according to him is working hard to restore credibility to the central bank, he maintained that the genuine issue impacting the exchange rate is the demand for US dollars for business and personal needs. The CBN Governor also assured that inflation is expected to decline this year using the inflation targeting framework and moderating to 21.1 percent. The committee had on January 31 summoned the Central Bank Governor to appear before it. The move comes amid pressing concerns about the state of the economy and the sharp decline of the naira in the foreign exchange market. The Senators are asking the CBN to give explanations on the myriad of economic challenges the country is currently facing.

  Following the recent directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria, restricting the operations of International Money Transfer Operators to only inbound transfers, IMTOs have decided to halt dollar transfers to Nigerians. The IMTOs said they will now only pay in naira. In the recently published document addressed to IMTOs, on January 31, CBN ordered the operators not to facilitate money transfers from Nigeria to other countries. The apex bank described the new directive as a move to “liberalise the foreign exchange market and ensure transparency.” Despite a devaluation last year and a decision to float the Naira, the currency has witnessed even more volatility as the CBN attempts to clear forex backlogs worth about $7bn. The old guidelines dated 6 September 2014 did not provide a clear definition of IMTOs. The definition was implied from the permissible activities that the operators could undertake however, under the New Guidelines, IMTOs are defined as companies approved by the CBN to facilitate the transfer of funds from individuals or entities residing abroad to recipients in Nigeria and the payment of a corresponding sum to a beneficiary through a clearing network to which the IMTO belongs. However, under the revised guidelines, the IMTO services are now limited to inbound money transfer services alone. This means that IMTOs are only able to provide money transfer or remittance services from a foreign country into Nigeria. The apex bank asked IMTOs to quote exchange rates for naira payout to beneficiaries based on the prevailing market rates at the nation’s official foreign exchange market. In a bid to implement the CBN’s directive, One of the approved IMTOs, World Remit, has updated its app for Nigeria with the following instructions: WorldRemit Nigeria News! We can no longer support transfers in USD; only in Naira. “If you’re about to send money to Nigeria, this is important. The Central Bank of Nigeria has directed that it’s no longer possible for any money transfers to be paid out in USD in Nigeria. So, of course, this includes WorldRemit money transfers. “But please don’t worry. You can still enjoy the same quick, safe, and affordable World Remit service to Nigeria by sending money in Naira instead,” it stated. Another operator, Sebdwave said, “In compliance with a recent directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria, we regret to inform you that Sendwave, along with all money transfer operators, is no longer able to support USD transfers to Nigeria. We’d encourage you to switch to sending Naira transfers instead.”

  Men and officers of the Nigerian Navy have uncovered fifteen camps where illegal refining activities were ongoing on a large scale in Rivers State. The operation, which is part of Operation Delta Sanity was led by personnel of the Nigerian Navy Ship(NNS) Pathfinder on Friday at the heart of a creek known as Bokokiri in Ke Community of Degema Council of the state. Conducting journalists on the discovery operation, the Commander of NNS Pathfinder, Commodore Desmond Igbo, said each of the camps has up to Six cooking pots and Ovens that contain over 30 thousand litres of crude oil products. According to him, the economic saboteurs clandestinely chose the location using a hose to tap the oil wellheads then syphoning the crude through pipes to a distance inside the creeks knowing that they can not be spotted easily. He added that the onslaught on economic saboteurs was in accordance with the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla’s directives to ensure oil theft is brought to the barest minimum. “This is where Nigeria derives its revenue but some unscrupulous citizens are engaged in this act of economic sabotage. This is not good for our country’s economy. The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla has mandated us to ensure that oil theft becomes a history in Nigeria. “We are at an illegal bunkering site where the illegally refined petroleum products are being stolen from the pipes and wellheads tapped. This an act of stealing,” Igbo said. He added; “here is Bokokiri in Ke community, Degema council of Rivers State. Here we have fifteen camps and each of the camps has not less than six cooking pots with each pot containing over 30 thousand litres of crude oil. “The volume of operation in each camp is much, this means that we have 30 thousand litres for each pot, multiply that by six and then multiply by 15, which is 2.7 million litres of crude oil.” Commodore Igbo, however, noted that apart from using the kinetic approach to dissuade oil thieves, his Base is using none kinetic approach, explaining that he had engaged community stakeholders and conducted sensation to educate community members on the implications of indulging in acts of economic sabotage. He added that although no arrest of the runners of the camps yet, the Base had made arrests at different operations and had handed them to prosecuting agencies.

  The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it has discontinued granting loans through its Ways and Means advances to the federal government. The CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, said the decision was because of the government’s failure to settle its outstanding debt. Cardoso said this on Friday at an interactive session with the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions alongside the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Olawale Edun, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Atiku Bagudu and the Minister of Agriculture, Abubakar Kyari. The Ways and Means is a loan facility the CBN gives the federal government to fund budget shortfalls. The loan facility has been a subject of controversy, with experts expressing concern that CBN had exceeded its lending threshold to the federal government against extant laws. The federal government’s borrowing from the CBN stood at N4.36 trillion as of June 2023, a month after former President Muhammadu Buhari securitised N22.7 trillion borrowed from the apex bank. The outstanding debt of N4.36 trillion far exceeds five percent of the federal government’s revenue of N8.8 trillion for the year 2023 which is against CBN Act. Between July and December 2023, the federal government tapped into the CBN for a substantial N2.94 trillion.   In December 2023, the parliament approved presidential request to securitise CBN’s N7.3trn Ways and Means advances to the federal government. The apex bank’s governor said the loan to the federal government would stop until the outstanding balance is settled. This, Cardoso said, was in compliance with Section (38) of the CBN Act (2007). Cardoso said the payment of the outstanding balance of the Ways and Means would control inflation. He said, “I am pleased to note the Fiscal Authorities efforts in discontinuing ways and means advances. This is also in compliance with Section (38) of the CBN Act (2007), the Bank is no longer at liberty to grant further ways and means advances to the Federal Government until the outstanding balance as of December 31, 2023, is fully settled. The Bank must strictly adhere to the law limiting advances under ways and means to 5 percent of the previous year’s revenue. “We have also halted quasi-fiscal measures of over 10 trillion naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria under the guise of development finance interventions which hitherto contributed to flooding excess Naira and raising prices to the levels of Inflation we are grappling with today. “The CBN’s adoption of inflation-targeting framework involves clear communication and collaboration with fiscal authorities to achieve price stability, potentially leading to lowered policy rates, stimulating investment, and creating job opportunities. “Our MPC meeting on the 26th and 27th of February is also expected to review the situation and take further decisions on these important issues. “Inflationary pressures are expected to decline in 2024 due to the CBN’s inflation-targeting policy, aiming to rein in inflation to 21.4 percent at the medium term, aided by improved agricultural productivity and easing global supply chain pressures”.