Sunday Oduntan, the executive director of the Association of Nigeria Electricity Distributors (ANED), has revealed that some ministries, Departments and Agencies still owes the Abuja Disco an outstanding fee up to the tune N100 billion.
Oduntan made this disclosure in an interview with Arise TV on Sunday, while nothing that the government needs to play its part to provide an enabling environment for energy distributors in the country.
According to him, the total debt owed by the Ministry, Agency and Departments (MDAs) is N100 billion.
Recall that on Monday, February 19, 2024, Abuja DisCo, said it will disconnect electricity in the Presidential Villa and 86 Federal Government’s Ministry Department and Agencies over N47,195 billion outstanding debts as of December 2023.
Some of the affected MDAs are Chief of Defence Staff – Barracks and Military Formations owing N12bn, FCT Ministry, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of State Petroleum, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture.
Others are the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Ministry of Education, CBN governor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Budget and Planning, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Interior, Head ECOWAS, and Ministry of Transport, among others.
Speaking further, Oduntan pointed out that the recent payment of debts by the presidential villa to the Abuja electricity distribution company could have been avoided had the government been timely in settling its electricity bills.
His words; “I said all of us need to pay our part. On the part of the government, always try to create an enabling environment for businesses to strive. Always play your part by paying your bill.
“It’s only two or three weeks ago that there was news that went viral that the Nigeria presidential villa was owing electricity bill. This bill was not paid until Abuja DisCo put up an advert which called the attention of the president.
He stressed that it is surprising “to find some ministries that owe Abuja Disco. The ministries, departments and agencies are owing in essence N100 billion.
“We’ve been saying this for a long time. They didn’t start owing from May 2023. So there is no politics or mischief here. We are talking facts and how we can solve problems,” he said.
Earlier, President Bola Tinubu issued a directive for the clearance of the N342.3 million outstanding electricity bill with the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company.
The directive from the President came after the State House Management and AEDC completed their account reconciliation.
