The Federal Government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), will soon make available, a whopping sum of N60bn to procure about one million units of electricity meters that are meant for free distribution to unmetered power users across the country.
This disclosure was contained in a document on some of the achievements of President Muhammadu Buhari in the last six years of his administration. According to the document, the sum of N60bn was for the first phase of the Federal Government's National Mass Metering Programme.
The document further stated that there had been a nationwide rollout of electricity meters to all power users on-grid consumers, which was inaugurated in August 2020. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is said to have already released funds for this purpose.
“The CBN is providing N60bn for the first phase, with a target of one million meter installations. So far more than 500,000 meters have been delivered to the Discos (distribution companies), and more than 280,000 installed,” the government stated.
According to an earlier report, the World Bank and the CBN were fully providing funds for the estimated six million electricity meters required to close the metering gap in the Nigerian power sector. The government document also said it inaugurated the Solar Power Naija program in April 2021, to deliver five million off-grid solar connections to Nigerian households.
“The program is expected to generate an additional N7bn increase in tax revenues per annum and $10m in annual import substitution,” it stated, adding that in May 2021, according to the document, the Rural Electrification Agency announced the planned deployment of solar-powered grids to 200 Primary Health Centres and 104 unity schools nationwide.
Meanwhile, a cross-section of Nigerian electricity consumers has praised the government's effort in this regard, saying that it would go a long way to address the high electricity tariff charges which most Nigerians have been contending with.
