Okays 50% Electricity Subsidy For Public Hospitals
Adebayo Adelabu, minister of power, says the federal government and the states have raised N100 billion for the procurement of prepaid electricity meters.
Speaking on Tuesday at a press briefing in Ibadan, Oyo state, Adelabu said this is part of the government’s efforts to close the metering gap.
“Mr President has set up what we call the presidential meter initiative (PMI) and set up a presidential meeting council to address this issue,” he said.
“He made me the chairman of this council. The SA on energy to Mr President is the secretary of the council. The mandate we have was to procure and install a minimum of two million meters every year over the next five years.
“In the PMI, we have made good progress in sourcing the fund for this, and it is going to be by a combination of the federal and state governments. Today, we have received, and seen about N100bn fund that will go into the procurement of meters.”
The minister added that the World Bank decided to support Nigeria with the procurement of almost two million meters in the next two years through the distribution sector recovery programme.
Adelabu also said out of the $500 million World Bank loan secured to boost electricity distribution, $200 million would be used for meter procurement, and that had reached an advanced stage.
‘FG TO PROVIDE PREPAID METERS, CONSUMERS TO REPAY IN 10 YEARS’
Adelabu also said electricity consumers who get free prepaid meters will have up to 10 years to repay the cost.
The minister said the cost of meters has been on the increase due to the exchange rates.
He also said funding was a major challenge, however, he said the federal government would fund the meter procurement through different initiatives while the customers pay back over time.
“When the government starts procuring meters, we’ll give it to the customers, and we’ll deduct the money over 10 years. In which case, you will not even feel it at all,” Adelabu said.
PROCESS OF REPAYMENT
Adelabu explained further that a customer who bought an energy credit of N5,000 might have N100 deducted for the ‘free’ meter he got from the government.
“Probably, if you buy a credit of N5,000, maybe N100 will go into the meter that we have given you. So, that’s what we are trying to do. We bring these meters in and reduce the gap that we have in the meters,” he added.
The minister also said many customers are not paying their bills because they believe they are being cheated by the power distribution companies through estimated billing, hence metering would ensure transparency.
“Out of over the 12 million electricity customers we have in Nigeria, only a little over five million is metered. We have over a seven million meter gap today, and these are self-inflicted problems,” he said.
Adelabu added that the sale of meters has been liberalised by allowing customers to buy directly from the vendors and not just the electricity distributing companies (DisCos).
FG Okays 50% Electricity Subsidy For Public Hospitals
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has approved a 50% electricity subsidy for public hospitals across the country.
Salient Times reports that the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Tunji Alausa, announced this on Thursday at the National Neo-Psychiatric Hospital in Barnawa, Kaduna State.
The minister commissioned the Electronic Health Records and Alternative Power Supply at the Lawal Jafaru Isah Emergency Complex and the solarisation project at the dialysis unit, which includes a solar-powered borehole and a 10.2 KVA inverter at the Abdulkareem Jika Yusuf COVID-19 Intervention Centre in the state.
Alausa said this gesture aims to reduce the running costs for public hospitals and alleviate the impact on patients.
He also announced plans to rename the hospitals as Specialist Hospitals to broaden healthcare service delivery.
“We are going to change the names of our Federal Hospitals to Specialist Hospitals to expand care delivery and destigmatize hospitals so that everybody can come here. While the core services will remain psychiatric, this re-naming will allow for the continuous expansion of services,” he said.
Alausa noted that the warning strike by resident doctors is complicating efforts to secure the release of kidnapped doctor Ganiyat Popoola from the hospital staff quarters.
He appealed for calm and assured the hospital management that the abducted doctor would return soon.
