The President Muhammadu Buhari Federal Government, has on Thursday, made it clear once again to Nigerians that meters are free, and should be distributed and installed freely for Customers by the Distribution Companies, DisCos, .
The Minister of Power, Engr. Abubakar Aliyu, stated this while speaking at the weekly State House Ministerial briefing, organised by the Presidential Media Team.
His exact words: “These meters are free, we said it a number of times. These are tools that will generate liquidity. How can we be selling something that will bring in money?
“It is the responsibility of the DisCos, and the government is seeing that they are not doing so. The government is giving the DisCos the meters to distribute for free.
“But there will always be “touts” and “kabu-kabu”. I think it is the touts that are doing this kind of shoddy deal.”
Speaking further, the Minister stated that the procurement of 4 million meters for the second phase of the mass metering programme, is ongoing.
Confirming that close to 1 million meters have been rolled out, the Minister confirmed the focus on local Manufacturers.
He said that this would provide jobs like the 10,000 generated under the first phase’s installation and assembly.
The Power Minister announced that the second phase contract will be awarded by the end of the second quarter of 2022, adding that, the third phase will provide an additional 2 million meters funded through the World Bank.
He further advised underperforming DisCos to ensure the fulfillment of contractual agreements with the Federal Government, or face sanctions.