There is no doubt that dubious officials have taken advantage of the electricity power crises and failure in Nigeria to engage in large-scale corruption. GEORGE OKOJIE examines how the antics of greedy officials of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), electrical contractors and other individuals help ensure the success of corruption and render the sector almost inefficient.
In the midst of acute power failure, one of the issues that have continually worried many who have sought to offer solutions to the nation’s power sector is the problem of corruption, which has not only frustrated efforts by successive governments in the country to revamp the electricity power sector, but also portrayed Nigerians as people who are prone to deceiving themselves.
The problem is more worrisome,because recently, issues of? corruption and extortion of consumers have taken on a super-human form,walking into homes and companies that subscribe to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) unchallenged.
While a bulk of the sharp practices can be attributed? to members of staff of the company, observers of the unfolding scenario have also blamed the rot on highly placed government officials, politicians, individuals and some blue chip companies that have continued to promote the swindling and making it lucrative for those involved in the act.
It’s no surprise that? pilfering has continued in the sector because efforts in the past to tackle the problem from the top where huge amounts of money is siphoned from the sector did not yield the desired results.
For instance, the decision by the House of Representatives to examine what happened to the N16billion allocated by the administration of Olusegun Obasanjo to improve the generation, transmission and distribution of power ruffled more than just a few feathers.
Those indicted by the Ndudi Elumelu-led House Committee on Power and Steel and recommended for further investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) were Olusegun Obasanjo; former governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Agagu, who served as minister of power under Obasanjo and the Cross River State governor, Liyel Imoke, who also served in the same portfolio in 2007.
Before Nigerians knew what was happening, the report was jettisoned and another committee headed by the then Deputy Whip of the House, Aminu Tambuwal, now the Speaker of the House, declared that the power projects that were meant to have been carried out during the years 1999 to 2007, cost the nation N1.3 billion and not N16 billion as announced by the Elumelu- led House Committee that authored the controversial report.
As the drama unfolded, the Tambuwal review affirmed that 40 of the 80 recommendations for legal action made by the Elumelu committee have no grounds.
What Nigerians felt would be a first major step to clearing the Augeanstable was given a political punch with the findings of the committees report becoming the affairs and operation manual of the leadership of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who were said to have prevailed upon the House leadership to tread softly in order not to embarrass some of its members indicted by the report.
This led to the situation where the House of Representatives was seen to be reversing itself and turning against the report they had earlier applauded.
The long and short of the story was that the hitherto roused interest of Nigerians saw the Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Nicholas Yahaya Ugbane, his House of Representatives counterpart, Ndudi Elumelu and eight others remanded in prison custody.
A 156-count charge was slammed against them by the EFCC as part of its probe into a N5 billion rural electrification agency contract scam. The rest is now history, while the thieving continues in the sector.
The activities of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), the public mainstay of electricity supply in the country have continued to be shrouded in secrecy .
Despite several promises, their billing system is still based on the discretion of PHCN officials. Which is a clear case of “the more you look the less you see”.
The claims by the company that electricity supply and its billing system have improved, readily contradicts facts on ground which indicates that the consumers are being ripped –off by the company.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY investigations revealed that some officials of the company whose stock in trade is becoming more dubious by the day have perfected the act of exploiting the consumers through un-reconciled accounts, estimated billing system and what the consumers call crazy bills.
An aggrieved consumer, Mr. Stephen Oladipo Gbadebo said the activities of the company calls for questioning, urging the government, Nigerian Consumer Protection Council and other relevant agencies to intervene .
According to him, “ I used to pay my bills through the estimated billing system on meter number 69/15/44/0270-01 in my resident at 21, Sola Solesi Street at Atan –Kekere, Ayobo area of Lagos. The payment on my old bill was cleared on 18/8/2011 at Ijaiye PHCN office. Having cleared the old bills I switched to the prepaid system which I felt was better.
“Surprisingly, I was embarrassed and did not believe what I saw when in October, PHCN brought another crazy bill of N6,961 to me. From where is the bill coming? After I had started recharging the new prepared meter .
“I have been wondering where this bills are coming from. The issue is that the act is deliberate. It is either somebody is not doing his job or it is a ploy to defraud unsuspecting individuals who will go and pay for the bill and the money goes to the pockets of the corrupt officials”.
According to Chief James Ikem, a businessman, the level of corruption among PHCN staff has become worrisome, adding that they have turned the consumers to their ATM machine for cashing money at any point.
“It is either they are selling fraudulent ideas to consumers to pay them some money to help you adjust their meters so that your bills are drastically? reduced or they are negotiating with them to write-off the huge bills accumulated.
“Meanwhile, PHCN has continued to hold on to power since they came out with their new name and release it only when they want to deceive people to pay for bills. This estimation system by PHCH is the highest fraudulent practice in the country. How can somebody be paying for something not used ?”
Mr. Michael Odunuga questioned the rationale behind the inclusion of? meter recurring charge of N250 in the prepaid meters as meter maintenance charge on monthly basis even though they do not come to maintain the meters.
“Though I still preferred the prepaid meter, there is also a fixed charge of N75 in the prepaid meter payment schedule. This added means you already have a bill of N325,00 awaiting you on monthly basis before the payment of the bill proper. It is not fair, the relevant agencies should stop it”, he added.?
In the ancient city of Benin in Edo state some consumers told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that they have subscribed to the company to get the prepaid meter for over a year and PHCN failed to make the meter available to them.
A consumer, Ojiriakhi Odia who resides in Aguebor Street in the city confided in LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, “I paid N30,000 for a three-phase commercial prepaid meter which I have not seen till today. They have been bringing high bills to me. How they arrived at the bills I don’t know.
“They will tell you to come and negotiate with them to go to the machine and reduce the bill and I continue to wonder if we are going to continue in the corrupt way”.
Another landlord in Ogiso area of the state Mr. Idemudia Efosa also told? LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that, “what I give to Samuel (a PHCN staff) is just N700 for the whole house in a month. It is cheap compared to what other houses here pay. There is no meter in the house. It is a direct connection to the pole. He is the one using the bills here to chop and he has so many other customers in this area”.
A Nigerian in diaspora who own a building in Moke Oyelodun Street, opposite Abattoir in Iju area of Lagos said somebody connected him to a PHCN staff when he wanted to procure the pre-paid meter and he paid N200,000 for four. But one year after, he is yet to take delivery of even one of the pre-paid meters.?
According to him, “Somebody introduced Mr. Sam to me as a worker with PHCN. I needed a single phase meter of 22OV for residential purpose . He charged me N200,000 which I paid to him. He told me the meters would be supplied and for over one year and I got fed up and went to their station at Ogba and reported him to his boss. Later I asked the police to intervene.
“He later turned up at the police station and confessed that he blew the money. I told the police to keep him. His people kept coming to my house to beg that he should not be sacked but be given time to refund my money. That is where we are now”, he lamented.??????
He noted that the corruption in the sector needed to be effectively tackled, saying “ Imagine a situation whereby somebody will collect your money and just come and place a notice on the wall of you building claiming this house is for PHCN Staff do not disconnect for more than one year. We are in a ‘bull****’ here. People should not encourage this. It takes two to tangle”.
He said the other time his cable was disconnected by PHCN while he was trying to recover his money from the dubious staff of the company, within 12 hours of payment of the arrears, his new cable which he brought from France was sold by the PHCN staff .
Meanwhile, the Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji, while? setting a target of N17 billion for PHCN, noted that there was financial leakages and fraud in the system.
He urged the management to increase its monthly revenue generation to N17 billion, from the current N13 billion .
As a way forward, the minister who met with top management officials of the company, noted that the additional N4 billion revenue hunt became necessary due to recent decision by the Federal Government to commence the implementation of payment of the 50 per cent salary increase demanded by PHCN staff .
At least to make some of them blaming their kleptomaniac disposition on poor remuneration more comfortable.
His words, “At least, N17 billion has to be generated monthly to defray operational costs and pay staff salaries monthly. The implementation of the 50 per cent salary increase would bring the new wage bill to over N11 billion, leaving the company with a balance of some two billion naira monthly.
“I’m optimistic that it would be possible to meet the monthly benchmark of N17 billion if the PHCN management and staff increase power supply to the public and plug some leakages within the system”.
Speaking on steps to correct the anomalies in the company, the Chief Executive Officer of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Engineer Chris Okaa Akamnonu, said some of the problems would soon be a thing of the past.
“The effort being made is to make things better in the electricity industry, by the government and the regulator, for users of electricity. Some of the rights enunciated include the right to complain when you are unfairly treated, the right to dispute your bill especially if you are being billed on estimation.
“We have set up customer complaints units in all the business units. We also have a supervisory unit based in the zone, which oversees what is happening in the business units”.
He explained that there is a unit which is called Customer Records and Debt Management that reconciles accounts that are disputed, saying the unit is very vital to the management because accuracy of bills is going to become much more serious.
“As power supply improves, emphasis will move from availability to affordability and to accuracy of billing.
Nobody will like to pay a kobo more than he or she has consumed. This is where it is important that we begin to prepare ourselves because power supply is improving by the day”, he added.
It is expected that the ongoing reform in the power sector will address the entrenched problem of corruption that has compounded electricity power crises in the country.