Dike Onwuamaeze
The 59th President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Dr. Innocent Iweka Okwuosa, has called on the government to establish and implement clear and consistent policies that would create conducive environment for investment in the sector.
Okwuosa made the call when the council members of the ICAN paid a courtesy visit on the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), Dr. Tinuade Sanda.
He acknowledged that the power distribution sector in Nigeria was faced with multifaceted problems that included outdated transmission and distribution networks resulting in energy distribution losses, inconsistent and sometimes conflicting regulatory policies, bureaucratic hurdles and difficulties in enforcing regulatory policies, equipment vandalism, illegal connections and theft of electricity, non-payment of electricity bills by some consumers, especially government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the challenge with the Aggregate Technical, Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) losses methodology, just to mention a few.
He said: “Addressing these challenges will require a comprehensive and sustained policy reforms driven by both the public and private sectors with involvement of professionals.
“It is, therefore, essential to create a conducive environment that will attract investment to the sector by establishing and implementing clear and consistent policies as well as creating the right incentives.
“To this end, we commend the recent power sector stakeholders’ engagement organised by the Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu (FCA), as a step in the right direction. However, we advise that in future, invitation should be extended to professional bodies like ICAN which has a Technical Committee on Power Sector.”
The 59th president of ICAN also explained the the institute was opposed to an attempt by the DISCOs to increase electricity tariff in order to ensure that the country achieved the SDG 7.
He said: “When in July 2023, the DISCOs moved to increase electricity tariff, the institute advised against this move not because we are not aware of the challenges facing the DISCOs.
“It was because of our public mandate interest as we are aware that the goal of SDG 7 is about ensuring access to clean and affordable energy by all citizens.
“There is no way SDG 7 can be achieved with the proposed hike in electricity tariff which came at the same time that government removed fuel subsidy and unified exchange rate that was a massive devaluation in the value of Naira.
“We are of the view that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration should implement policies that would enable Nigeria to achieve the SDGs’ goal, especially SDGs 1 to 10.”
He referred to a World Bank’s report that 85 million Nigerians do not have access to grid electricity, which made Nigeria the largest energy access deficit country in the world.
“The lack of reliable power is a significant constraint for citizens and businesses, resulting on annual economic losses estimated at $26.2 billion (₦10.1 trillion). As an institute, we will continue to advocate for greater accountability and transparency in the power sector given that it holds the key to production and service activities that will boost the economic growth in Nigeria,” Okwuosa said.
Okwuosa, however, commended the EKEDC for its improved performances despite the challenges in the sector.
He said: “The EKEDC has been performing very well as it has increased its gross revenue base and collection efficiency as well as customers’ metering services. The number of customers on estimated billing has continued to fall. You have improved power distribution to consumers through the provision of over 150 modern transformers, 46,000 billing meters and reducing your ATC&C losses.”
In her remarks, the managing director of EKEDC said that the distribution company believed in using innovative ways to ensure that its customers are metered.
Sanda, however, called for urgent resetting of electricity tariff to avoid illiquidity problem in the energy sector.
She emphasised that the sector could not grow by booking losses because of its almost 80 per cent reliance on gas that is priced in the United States’ dollar.
“We need to match up our tariff with the rising price of gas,” Sanda said.
