House of Representatives has given the Chief Executive Officers CEOs of the Ibadan, Benin and Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Companies an ultimatum of 72 hours to appear before it’s committee on Public Account over 100 Billion naira outstanding debt owed to the federal government.
The Chairman house Committee on Public Account Mr Bamidele Salami, issued the ultimatum after considering the report of a subcommittee Chairman by the Mr Mark Chidi Obetta, during public hearing at the National Assembly complex Abuja.
Mr Bamidele Salam, described as deliberate acts of legislative contempt by the three heads of the Discos who failed to honour previous invitations by the committee warning that stiff sanctions would be imposed on them this time around if they fail to appear before the committee on 18th December this year of 2025.
The committee Chairman who assured the panel’s resolve to take urgent and decisive action to recover the funds and ensure they are properly accounted for, expressed concern over the prolonged nature of the debts and how some liabilities remained unpaid more than a decade.
He recalled that on August 20, this year the committee summoned 11 electricity distribution companies over a cumulative debt of N2.6 trillion owed to the Federation Account a lot of them respoded to the invitation of the committee with the exception of the Ibadan, Beni and Port Harcourt head offices of the Discos.
Mr Bamidele salami, emphasized that there is no justification for the management of the offices to have consistently failed to appear before the committee to account for their outstanding liabilities, since the documents originated from the office of the Auditor-General for the Federation for the 2021 and 2022 financial years.
COV : TSIBIRI
