Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, says President Bola Tinubu has ordered that all businesses, institutions, households, and industries must be metered in the next five years.
Adelabu said this when he paid a visit to MBH Power, a meter factory in Mowe, Ogun State.
The Minister said Tinubu is not pleased with the country’s eight million metering gap and has directed that the situation be reversed in five years.
He said the Ministry has identified poor liquidity as another major issue in the sector, saying the foundation of this liquidity issue is metering.
“Less than 50% of electricity consumers nationwide are metered. And it’s been like that for so long. Mr President said, we need to reverse this ugly trend and that we must ensure that we get every household, commodity, business, institution, and industry metered over the next four to five years.
“This is why we said the eight million metering gap must be reduced significantly in the short to mid-term and eliminated in the long term”, Adelabu stated.
He reiterated that his Ministry had established the Presidential Metering Initiative, PMI, being managed by the Presidential Metering Council,PMC, with a plan to install two million meters annually over the next four to five years.
Adelabu commended the MBH Power management for joining the government in closing the metering gap and creating jobs for Nigerian youths.
“We are here to assess the volume of your local content and also to validate the number of jobs you have been able to create in Nigeria. I must tell you that I am highly impressed with what I saw on the ground.
“So, thank you so much for taking an interest in Nigeria and supporting the government activities. I can promise you that the Ministry of Power and our agencies are going to work with you”, Adelabu stated.
The Director and Chief Operating Officer of MBH Power, Rakesh Mahapatra, said as an integrated energy solutions provider, the firm is committed to partnering with the government to help bridge the metering gaps.
Mahapatra added that since its inception, the company has supplied over 700,000 meters through various power distribution companies.
He emphasised that as part of a commitment to bridging the gap through the local capacity for demands, the company has a production capacity of 2,000 meters per day for a single phase and 500 meters per day for three phases with a single shift and an annual production capacity of 920,000 meters.
Aviation Workers Halt Planned Protest Over Revenue Slash
Aviation workers have decided to cancel their planned protest concerning the Federal Government’s demand for 50% revenue collection from the agencies.
The scheduled strike was meant to be held yesterday.
The Secretary of the Joint Aviation Trade Unions Forum, Nnadi Hector, said the protest was halted following a directive from the government aimed at resolving tensions within the aviation sector.
Hector clarified the nature of recent protests held by aviation unions, emphasizing their peaceful intent to highlight the challenges faced by industry agencies.
“Aviation all over the world is a service industry; magnanimously, the President intervened, though we have not seen a letter”, Hector stated, referring to the presidential directive.
“He directed, while he was not in the country, that it (revenue deduction) has been cut to 20% . So it is a good step in the right direction”.
Recall that a week ago, aviation workers across Nigeria decided to embark on a nationwide protest starting on August 21, 2024, in response to the Federal Government’s continued deduction of 50% from the internally generated revenue of key aviation agencies.
The unions had made this announcement in a letter dated August 14, 2024, titled, ‘Save Aviation From Collapse’.
