Apex Bank to Freeze 157 Companies’ Accounts for Fund Diversion
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has sought permission from a federal high court to freeze 157 accounts of Meter Asset Providers (MAPs) for allegedly diverting funds meant for the procurement of prepaid meters. Through the suit at the Lokoja federal high court, Kogi State on July 20, the CBN demanded that accounts belonging to 10 companies be frozen. These are companies that received power sector intervention funds under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP).
Essentially, the freeze is to enable the bank conduct its investigation. The list of the companies include G Unit Engineering Limited, Koby Global Engineering Services Limited, FLT Energy Systems Limited, Smart Meters Asset Provider Company Limited, Mojec Meter Asset Management Company Limited, Integrated Power Nigeria Limited, Holley Metering Limited, Protogy Global Services Limited, Turbo
Energy Limited, and Cresthill Engineering Limited.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria reviewed the activities of twelve (12) including the defendants herein Meter Asset Providers (MAPs) alleged to have diverted the Central Bank of Nigeria’s power sector intervention funds under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP),” the apex bank said, according to The Cable. “The review was aimed at ascertaining the flow of the funds made available to the MAPs, covering the period between January 1, 2020 to March 15, 2022. The preliminary review revealed that the defendants diverted a substantial portion of the funds for other uses through related entities and individuals/companies connected to the electricity distribution companies (DisCos) and the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
“The diversion of the power sector intervention funds under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) provided by the applicant’s banks, has further occasioned grave instability in the power sector and sustained the estimated billing regime which the federal government is making frantic efforts to make a thing of the past.
“The diversion of the said funds through the bank accounts of the defendants has continually undermined the applicant’s bank intervention system of supporting various sectors of the Nigerian economy. “The diversion of the said funds and sustained instability in the power sector is capable of causing significant economic and financial loss to investors, as well as the entire systems and the Nigerian economy in general, if not curtailed.”
The meter asset firms were issued permits to begin the rollout of new meters by May 1, 2019. To boost the new policy, the federal government later provided a N37 billion grant for the supply of the meters.
However, the latest data from the 2021 third-quarter report of the NERC shows that of the 11,069,200 registered energy customers as of September 2021, only 4,753,027 (42.93%) have been metered.
