The second quarter allocation made for Kano Electricity Distribution Company is missing, Pointblanknews.com learnt Thursday afternoon.
The management of Kano Electricity Distribution Company was forced to admit that they have not received the second quarter allocation after an intensive grill by members of House Committee on Power who were in the state for assessment exercise.
The management also revealed that it has revealed that it has only received 38 per cent of the entire sum allocated to them for the year 2012.
The House Committee on Power said it would go at any length to find out in whose purse was the custody of the missing allocation.
The Managing Director of the company, Alhaji Mohammed Tunde Balogun told a team of House Committee on Power yesterday in Kano that his management only received allocation for first and third quarter, while that of the second quarter was still hanging.
Balogun, who was represented by the Assistant General Manager in charge of Technical Services, Mr. Sadiq Ibrahim, out of the N886, 022, 331 allocated to Kano Electricity Distribution Company in the 2012 budget, only 38 per cent of the total sum has been received from the Federal Ministry of Finance.
He, however, revealed that despite all challenges, the Kano zone has been able to shore up its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), from N400 million to about N1.02 Billion recorded in the last September’s collection.
“When this present management assumed duty some three years back, the monthly revenue base was a paltry N400 million only. But today, we are celebrating our latest unprecedented achievement of a landmark N1.02 Billion last September.
“Through the judicious use of the appropriated funds, we were able to accomplish a number of projects that have impacted significantly on the stability and integrity of our distribution network through our scope of coverage over the recent years,” the CEO stated.
He further listed some of the challenges facing the management to include increasing spate of vandalism of PHCN properties, inadequate budgetary provisions, late release of appropriated funds, as well as inefficient workforce in the company.
The Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Power, Hon. Ibrahim Ebbo acknowledged the challenges facing the company, while expressing dismay at the level of budgetary implementation in the power sector.
Ebbo who was the leader of the team said the Committee members were in Kano to access the level of implementation of the fund appropriated to the Company in the budget as well as finding out the quality of projects in the zone.
“This is a serious business. We will be doing on-the-spot assessment of all the projects in 2012. We need to talk to the contractors at the sites. We need to know if they have been well mobilized and how far they are moving on with the project.
“Government cannot be spending billions of Naira on power and some few disgruntled elements keep on vandalizing the facilities. When we go, we shall sponsor a bill to ensure that these vandals face the wrath of the law,” Ebbo stated.