Emerging facts indicate that not all the Meter Asset Providers (MAPs) are in breach of the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) guidelines or might have diverted funds on the initiative as alleged by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This revelation was contained in a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday by Mojec Meter Asset Management Company Ltd. (M3AC), in which it categorically refuted all the allegations by the apex bank.
The company averred that it fully discharged its obligations of manufacturing, supplies, and installation of meters for all eight DisCos, underpinning the success of the NMMP nationwide. The company also pointed out that it was issued certificates of completion by all the eight DisCo clients as proof of execution of its contractual obligations on the initiative.
Corporate Communications Manager, MOJEC International Group, Olufunso Adeolu, in the statement, pointed out the company’s willingness and ability to release all meter serial numbers produced in its factories, together with records of waybills of all in-Country volumes of meters it delivered to the various DisCos under the initiative.
It was gathered that M3AC also has records of a weekly tracking management mechanism that it uses in tracking its supply andinstallation across the Country. In addition, the company was issued certificates of completion by the DisCos it worked with under the initiative.
According to the statement, the company instituted the system to “provide transparency and accountability to Regulators, clients,and other stakeholders as well as the smooth management of its operations across the Country. Lastly, because MOJEC deploys only smart meters in utilities where its Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) systems are deployed, every single meter MOJEC has installed can be verified and are active on the AMI system for all view.”
“By the methodology institutionalized by the Federal Government for the disbursement of the funds, it was impossible for funds to be diverted as now being suggested in some quarters.”
The company also based its position on the fact that the NMMP“was a performance-based payment Programme, administered by Meristem Finance Limited on behalf of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and all payments received by the MAPs were based on evidence of performance and weekly verification by the Presidency, the DisCos and Meristem Finance Limited as well as further verification and audit by the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC).”
These clarifications became necessary because of a suit filed at the Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State by the CBN in which the apex prayed the court for an order that commercial banks freeze the account of 10 Meter Asset Providers (MAPs) involved with the NMMP for 180 days, pending the outcome of its investigation.
“M3wholeheartedlydly welcomes and is willing to support the government in its investigations,” it stated.
M3AC also emphatically submitted that in its Group’s 30-year existence, it has never diverted any fund(s) nor will it, and its reputation has never had to be called to question.
It was gathered that the company is a proudly wholly indigenous(Nigerian), female-owned, and female-led enterprise, promoting economic development and investment across Africa, creating over five thousand jobs in manufacturing, installations, sales,and technology for young and old in its Nigerian operations alone. The statement noted that these teeming employees wouldmost probably have remained unemployed and unskilled in the absence of the opportunity to work in their area of study: electrical engineering.
MOJEC in its ‘Vision of Building a World of Possibilities’ for Nigerians recognizes and remains committed to investing in and rebuilding Nigeria’s Power sector knowing that power infrastructure is central to the economic development and industrialization of any nation.
Recall that the NMMP is a Federal Government led initiative in collaboration with the distribution companies (DisCOs) that is geared towards ensuring mass metering of Nigerians across the country. The programme was part of the first time ever ofgovernment efforts geared at helping to bridge the country’s metering gap, curbing the effects of estimated billing on end-users, and improving overall revenue collection in the power sector.
Hitherto MOJEC as a company led and pioneered vendor-based financing to six utilities across the country which enabled it to roll out over 600,000 meters in the years prior to the commencement of the FG’s NMMP program and another 400,000. These vendor-based financing programs helped curb the burden of estimated billing to consumers and improved utility revenue collection to the market as a whole which hitherto was non-existent.
Under the programme, the FG provided loan facilities to the DisCos for the procurement of locally available in-country prepaid meters at no cost, to end-users. The initial phase of the programme, dubbed “phase zero” had 750,000 meters installed of which Mojec supplied and installed several hundreds of thousands of these meters, while the other MAPs in the programme also installed the remainder.
The company expresses dismay at the unfounded allegations targeted at Mojec, and other MAPs who are investing in Nigeria and taking on the mammoth task of solving the power sector challenges in Nigeria. Where Nigerians suffer a terrible negative image worldwide, such companies, investing in the Nigerian market, creating jobs & exporting Nigerian-made products out of Nigeria, and helping to improve Nigeria’s image globally, should be supported and provided with the necessary enabling environment to thrive and not be vilified and disgraced for trying to invest in, operate businesses in & improve Nigeria’s image globally.
We call on the relevant authorities and stakeholders to ensure a speedy resolution of this issue and consequently exonerate MOJEC’s name and other MAPs who discharged their contractual duties under this scheme faithfully.
