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INVESTIGATION: How Meter Racketeering By AEDC Officials

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Frustrate Bid To End Estimated Billing

AEDC ‘Enjoys’ Estimated Billing – Official

September 26 was an unusual day for a nursing mother (names withheld) who left her baby at home and hurried to submit an application for a prepaid meter at the office of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) in Kagini, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory.

She needed a prepaid meter to get away from the slavery of estimated billing arbitrarily imposed on electricity consumers in her area. She expected free and prompt service as advertised by the Federal Government to promote metering of power consumers in the country.

But she was shocked at the behavior of the first official she met to submit her application for approval. The official, a female, threw her application back at her because she did not pay her “stamping fee” of N5,000 through her.

The official starkly refused to listen to further explanation from her.

Out of frustration, she stormed out of the office to the Area Office of the AEDC located along Gado Nasko road in Kubwa to lodge her complaint and pursue her application for a new meter.

At the area office in Kubwa, she met a receptive officer who listened to her story and lamented the corrupt attitude of some AEDC officials who compromise service for personal gains. Her application was received and she got a promise that it would be treated.

She went back home without a prepaid meter as she had expected, but felt relieved that her application would be processed.

Acquiring A Prepaid Meter

To get a prepaid meter, electricity consumers are usually required to visit the AEDC office nearest to them to initiate a request for metering.

The customer would be given a form to fill in necessary details including two passport photographs, phone number and a valid means of identification.

The power consumer would be asked to pay either N5,000 or N10,000 for “stamping” of their form, depending on the type of meter, after which the customer’s premises would be visited for site verification.

Stamping of application forms is usually done by authorized AEDC contractors, but because of the fee involved, some AEDC officials are said to have also involved themselves in the process so they could get referral kickbacks.

Most officials who spoke to THE WHISTLER at offices of the AEDC in Lugbe, Karu, Jikwoyi, Kurudu, Angwan Gari (Jikwoyi axis), amongst others, said customers are supposed to be metered within 14 days of approval of their application.

Consumers Face Exploitation

This reporter gathered from different electricity consumers that intimidation and deliberate frustration of customers are some of the tactics that officials of the AEDC and the Licensed Electrical Contractors Association of Nigeria (LECAN) employ to exploit power consumers applying for prepaid meters.

It was learnt that unless you’re willing to grease their palms to ‘fast track’ your meter application or prepared to engage in fervent prayers, a consumer may have to wait for “a very long time” before their application is approved and their device installed.

Several power consumers in the FCT confirmed to this reporter that despite the Federal Government’s declaration that prepaid meters were free, some of them were made to pay.

Officials were accused of demanding between N15,000 and up to N90,000 to help “fast track” approval and installation of prepaid meters which, according to the Federal Government, were supposed to be distributed freely to electricity consumers under the Government’s National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) which kicked off in late 2020.

“I paid close to N90,000 for a three-phase meter,” said a shop owner at Lungi Market, Asokoro, who didn’t want her mentioned for fear of victimisation by the AEDC.

Two other traders at the market who also spoke to this reporter under the condition of anonymity said they paid about N53,000 each for the meters, but noted that the devices were supplied by an unnamed company under an arrangement reached between landlords and the management of the market.

Also, a resident of Kubwa lamented how she had to part with about N55,000 of her hard-earned money in August, 2021, to get a prepaid meter after failed initial attempts to get one for free.

To corroborate these allegations, THE WHISTLER’s reporter visited eight AEDC offices under the Karu, Kubwa and Lugbe area offices, where evidence gathered showed that AEDC and LECAN officials are actively frustrating the bid to end estimated billing and close Nigeria’s metering gap.

‘It Depends On How You Want To Play The Game’

Posing as an electricity consumer in need of a prepaid meter, this reporter visited the Area Office of the AEDC located in the Kubwa suburb of Abuja, where he observed for 20 minutes the interactions between officials and power consumers coming to apply or inquire about prepaid meters.

At the entrance of the building were two security officers who referred the reporter to an electrical engineer (names withheld) after notifying them of his intent.

“I can swear that we’ve met before,” the official told the reporter while racking his brain for a clue on where they might have met. He eventually ushered the reporter to a corner where he attended to him.

The engineer, a member of LECAN, gave a breakdown of the meter application process and the options of a fast-tracked or delayed procedure, but noted that there were currently no meters on ground. He was not aware the conversation was being taped.

“You can pick anyone (prepaid meter), it is just a matter of choice. But if you can afford it, it is better to go for a three-phase since it is your house. If you’re renting, I’d say you should manage a one-phase,” said the official.

He noted that the requirements to get a one-phase or three-phase meter are the same “apart from the money” involved.

“You will need two passport photographs, a valid means of identification and if you’re using the landlord’s name, you are going to provide his means of identification and his passports.

“For us to stamp your form for a single phase, we’ll charge N5,000 and for three-phase we charge N10,000.”

The official demanded N20,000 for a single phase or 35,000 for a three-phase meter, with a promise to ensure the reporter is among the first people to get a meter once they become available.

“If it is single phase, you’ll pay N20,000, but if it’s three phases, it is N35,000,” he said, adding that within two days of arrival of meters, “We will call you to come and carry your meter.”

He noted that, “The timeline (for receiving a meter) is not very specific, I must be sincere with you. It depends on how you want to play the game. If you want to wait for the normal procedure, that one takes longer.”

The official assured the reporter of getting a meter quickly if he went for the “quick time” option as “we are expecting that by the first week of next month (October), the meter train would be back here.”

“That is why you could see people coming to do their things and get ready. So, in that case now, if you want us to facilitate it, it is going to cost you money, but if you want to key in and wait for the process, that one may take a very long time.”

At another office of the AEDC, an official of the Disco (names withheld) confirmed on tape that she received payment of N15,000 to help fast track an application for a prepaid meter.

“Yes, I confirmed (the money). Shey it is N15,000 that you gave me? Be praying so that it (the meter) would come out fast as expected. Be prayerful, God will do it (because) I submitted it yesterday so let’s just wait,” she said.

She had promised that the meter would be ready before the end of September: “Hopefully even before that time, if God is on our side, it may or may not. No problem, it would come.”

AEDC ‘Enjoys’ Estimated Billing – Official

The reporter gathered that contrary to the general perception that electricity consumers were mostly against metering, the reverse was the case as the number of consumers visiting the AEDC offices to apply for prepaid meters indicated that they preferred to be metered.

Besides, the LECAN official at the Kubwa AEDC office said on tape that AEDC “enjoys estimated billing” and would prefer customers to continue to receive estimated bills.

According to the official, if consumers fail to take advantage of the fast-tracked meter application and decide to wait for the normal process, “they (AEDC) would start issuing you bills (estimated billing) and when they start enjoying bills from you, they would not be in a hurry (to approve your application for meter).”

Even if a consumer refuses to be connected to the power grid, he or she would still be issued estimated billing pending arrival of their meter, said the official.

“If you tell the customer care that you want to submit your form, but do not want to be connected to the grid, they will not process this form,” the official was heard telling a female consumer who aired her frustration about the rigorous meter application process.

“For you to be able to submit the form for processing, a contractor needs to sign. We are not AEDC. We are licensed electrical contractors, that is what they call LECAN.

“You cannot get a meter without a contract number. Anything you want to do, get your contract number now,” he said.

Referral Kickbacks, Intimidation and Humiliation of Customers

The inability of electricity consumers to easily access prepaid meters has left some of them at the mercy of AEDC and LECAN officials who take advantage of the situation.

The nursing mother’s experience at the Kagini AEDC indicates that some officials intimidate power consumers who fail to do their bidding.

“She was angry that I didn’t go to her first,” the nursing mother was heard narrating her frustration to the LECAN official at the Kubwa office after the female official at the Kagini office allegedly mistreated her for not using her to get her application form stamped.

Responding, the LECAN official wondered if the AEDC official was authorized as an electrical contractor to stamp the application form.

“They are very corrupt people. Most of them have contractors they use, so they want you to come to them so that when they collect the ‘LECAN money’ and application form from you, they will get a contractor that will stamp it and give them a cut.

Pointing to a section of the form, he noted that it must be “completed by certified/registered electrical engineer/accredited electrical contractor.”

‘Nobody Gets A Meter For Free’

Meanwhile, a former National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Commissioner of Market Competition and Rates, Eyo Ekpo, said prepaid meters were never meant to be distributed for free to power consumers.

Ekpo, argued that power consumers should not get free meters “because our tariffs are lower than cost” of electricity being consumed.

“Let me clear up something, prepaid meters are not to be given to anybody for free. That is the problem with us in this country, we want everything free, we don’t want to earn it.

“Meters are manufactured and they are part of the equipment that serves you. The mobile phone you have in your hand, you paid for it. Mobile phone companies can also set out a programme, whereby you make a deposit, get a phone but you pay for the phone over time. That’s the way meters are paid for,” he told THE WHISTLER.

On the Federal Government’s directive mandating power distribution companies to distribute meters for free, Ekpo said: “The directive is not that meters are free, as far as I know, I don’t know what they are saying now. But as far as I know, meters are not to be given freely. I can assure you that in the cost of your [electricity] tariff, there is a cost for that meter that you’re using.”

Ekpo argued that, “…the discos don’t have money, the tariff that you and I are using is not an economic tariff, it doesn’t cover the cost of our service. If [consumers] are asked to pay for the cost of our service, we will all take up arms, NLC will stand up and say that you people should go on strike and we will go on strike because we are being asked to pay the right price for electricity. In that price is the cost of the meter, but because our tariffs are lower than cost, so many things that we (electricity consumers) should get, we cannot get. One of them is the meter.

“The programme that we had before was that “Ok, I will give you the money for the meter”. At the time, it ranged from N15,000 to N50,000 or something like that, depending on the kind of meter. “I will recover the cost of this meter from my tariff, because I should not pay upfront for it.” That was the arrangement and I think that is still the arrangement.

Ekpo also frowned at the words “free prepaid meters” in the NMMP saying, “Nobody gets a meter for free, you don’t have to pay and you shouldn’t pay upfront for it, but you’re ultimately going to pay for that meter. I gave you the example of people in England, the Western countries, who are given a mobile phone and they are told it is going to be financed at 1% or 2%. You get the mobile phone, but over and above that $100 or $200 cost of the mobile phone is the 1% or 2% charge. If you don’t pay now, you pay later, but you will pay.”

Meanwhile, during the launch of the National Mass Metering Programme in November, 2020, AEDC’s Managing Director, Ernest Mupwaya, had noted that the company would install prepaid meters at residences and business premises “without charging customers”.

In August 2021, the Federal Government announced that an additional 4 million meters would be provided to consumers for free in the second phase of the NMMP.

– This report was supported by the Civic Media Lab under its Investigative Reporting Project (IRP).

Culled from the Sahara Reporters 

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Houston and Owerri Community Mourn the Passing of Beloved Icon, Lawrence Mike Obinna Anozie

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Houston was thrown into mourning on September 19, 2025, following the sudden passing of businessman and community advocate Lawrence Mike Obinna Anozie, who peacefully joined his ancestors. Immediate family member in Houston, Nick Anozie, confirmed his untimely death and expressed gratitude for the outpouring of love and condolences from both the Houston and Owerri communities.

Lawrence was born to Chief Alexander and Lolo Ether Anozie of Owerri in Imo State, Nigeria, and will be dearly remembered by family members, friends, and the entire Houston community.

An accomplished accountant, the late Lawrence incorporated and successfully managed three major companies: Universal Insurance Company, LLC, Universal Mortgage LLC, and Universal Financial Services. Through these enterprises, he not only built a thriving business career but also created opportunities for countless individuals to achieve financial stability. His contributions to entrepreneurship and community development will remain a lasting legacy.

According to the family, arrangements for his final funeral rites are in progress and will be announced in due course.

Lawrence will forever be remembered as a loving and compassionate man who dedicated much of his life to uplifting others. He helped countless young Nigerians and African Americans overcome economic challenges by providing mentorship, financial guidance, and career opportunities. His generosity touched the lives of many who otherwise might not have found their footing. A devout Catholic, he was unwavering in his faith and never missed Mass, drawing strength and inspiration from his church community. To those who knew him, Lawrence was not only a successful businessman but also a pillar of kindness, humility, and faith whose legacy of service and compassion will continue to inspire generations.

For more information, please contact Nick Anozie – 832-891-2213

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Enugu Revenue Leader Details Tax Plans, Commits to Responsible Fund Management

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In a bid to address rising public concerns and social media speculations about taxation in Enugu State, the Executive Chairman of the Enugu State Internal Revenue Service (ESIRS), Emmanuel Nnamani, has provided clarifications on the government’s tax policies. During a press briefing in Enugu, Nnamani dismissed what he described as “false and misleading claims” and reassured residents that the government’s fiscal operations are firmly rooted in law, transparency, and public good.

Clarifying Misinformation and Affirming Legality

Nnamani opened the session by stressing that no taxes or levies in Enugu State are imposed outside the provisions of the law. “Taxes and revenues in Enugu State remain within the limits of the law. We do not impose any levies outside what the law permits,” he stated, pointing to the Personal Income Tax Act (as amended) as the guiding legal framework.

He explained that the ESIRS collects personal income tax through two lawful means: Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) for those in formal employment, and Direct Assessment for informal sector workers. While compliance among salaried workers has been largely smooth, the agency sometimes employs legal enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance among self-employed individuals.

Formalising the Informal Sector

A key challenge, he noted, has been bringing the informal sector—especially market traders and transport operators—into the formal tax net. Upon assuming office, his administration discovered that an overwhelming 99% of informal sector actors were not remitting taxes to the state, largely due to the disruptive influence of non-state actors engaged in illegal collections.

In response, the government introduced a consolidated ₦36,000 annual levy for market traders. This amount, payable between January and March, covers all relevant state-level charges, including those by the Enugu State Waste Management Agency (ESWAMA), Enugu State Structures for Signage and Advertisement Agency (ENSSAA), storage fees, and business premises levies. “Once this amount is paid between January and March, the trader owes nothing else for that year,” Nnamani clarified. Traders who fail to pay by March 31 are subject to enforcement.

For street vendors operating outside structured markets, an annual levy of ₦30,000 applies, with ESWAMA charges handled separately. Transport operators such as Okada riders, Keke drivers, minibuses, tankers, and trucks pay via a daily ticketing system.

A Human-Faced Approach to Enforcement

Although the law allows for a 10% penalty on unpaid tax and an interest charge tied to the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Rate of 27.5%, Nnamani disclosed that the state has adopted a softer, pro-business approach. Instead of the full punitive charges, a flat ₦3,000 penalty is applied in most informal sector cases to promote ease of doing business and encourage voluntary compliance.

Taxation and the Cost of Rent

Addressing growing concerns over rising rent, Nnamani rejected claims linking the trend to state tax policies. He described the issue as a national challenge influenced by supply and demand, rather than fiscal policy.

Citing personal experiences dating back to 2015, he observed that a shift in private development preference – from rental apartments to gated residential estates – has contributed to the housing squeeze. “If we had more high-rise buildings, rent would drop,” he noted. The state government, he added, is taking proactive steps through the Ministry of Housing and Housing Development Corporation to build mass housing and student hostels near institutions like ESUT and IMT, freeing up central city housing and helping moderate rents.

Technology, Transparency, and Trust

In line with its commitment to transparency and digital innovation, the ESIRS has launched a tax calculator on its official portal – www.irs.en.gov.ng – allowing residents to compute their taxes with ease and clarity. “This is about transparency and giving our people confidence,” he said, inviting residents to compare Enugu’s tools with those in more advanced states like Lagos.

Understanding the Cost of Development

Responding to concerns that Enugu has become one of Nigeria’s most expensive states, Nnamani acknowledged the perception but clarified that the temporary inflation is largely demand-driven. With Enugu undertaking widespread infrastructural renewal – including smart schools, primary health centres, and hospitality infrastructure – the surge in construction activity has led to increased demand for building materials like granite and rods, which are sourced from other states.

“Once these projects are completed, demand will drop, and prices will stabilise,” he assured. He emphasised that the projects are visible testaments to what taxpayers’ money can achieve when properly managed.

A Call for Mutual Understanding and Civic Partnership

More than a tax clarification, Nnamani’s address served as a reminder of the symbiotic relationship between citizens and government. He appealed for public understanding, noting that when citizens fulfil their tax obligations, the government can, in turn, provide essential services and infrastructure that uplift everyone.

His message was clear: responsible taxation, managed transparently and invested wisely, is the bedrock of sustainable development. From roads to schools and healthcare to housing, Enugu State is demonstrating how taxpayers’ money, when efficiently deployed, can improve lives and build the future.

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The Leadership Deficit: Why African Governance Lacks Philosophical Grounding

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Leadership across nations is shaped not only by policies but by the quality of the individuals at the helm. History has shown that the most transformative leaders often draw from deep wells of ethical, philosophical, and strategic thought. Yet, in many African countries—and Nigeria in particular—there appears to be a crisis in the kind of men elevated to govern. This deficit is not merely political; it is intellectual, philosophical, and deeply structural.

There is a compelling correlation between the absence of foundational wisdom and the type of leaders Nigeria consistently produces. Compared to their counterparts in other parts of the world, Nigerian leaders often appear fundamentally unprepared to govern societies in ways that foster justice, progress, or stability.

Consider the Middle East—nations like the UAE and Qatar—where governance is often rooted in Islamic principles. While these societies are not without flaws, their leaders have harnessed religious teachings as frameworks for nation-building, modern infrastructure, and citizen welfare. Ironically, many of Nigeria’s military and political leaders also profess Islam, yet the application of its ethical standards in public governance is nearly non-existent. This raises a troubling question: is the practice of religion in African politics largely symbolic, devoid of actionable moral guidance?

Take China as another case study. In the last four decades, China’s leadership has lifted over 800 million people out of poverty—an unprecedented feat in human history. While authoritarian in structure, China’s model demonstrates a deep philosophical commitment to collective progress, discipline, and strategic long-term planning. In Western democracies, especially post-World War II, leaders often emerged with strong academic backgrounds in philosophy, economics, or history—disciplines that sharpen the mind and cultivate vision.

In stark contrast, African leaders—particularly in Nigeria—are more often preoccupied with short-term political survival than long-term national transformation. Their legacy is frequently one of mismanagement, unsustainable debt, and structural decay. Nigeria, for example, has accumulated foreign loans that could take generations to repay, yet there is little visible infrastructure or social development to justify such liabilities. Inflation erodes wages, and basic public services remain in collapse. This cycle repeats because those in power often lack not just technical competence, but the moral and intellectual depth to lead a modern nation.

At the heart of the crisis is a lack of philosophical inquiry. Philosophy teaches reasoning, ethics, and the nature of justice—skills that are essential for public leadership. Nigerian leaders, by and large, are disconnected from such traditions. Many have never seriously engaged with political theory, ethical discourse, or economic philosophy. Without this grounding, leadership becomes a matter of brute power, not enlightened governance.

The crisis of leadership in Africa is not solely one of corruption or bad policy—it is one of intellectual emptiness. Until African nations, especially Nigeria, begin to value and cultivate leaders who are intellectually rigorous and philosophically grounded, the continent will remain caught in cycles of poverty and poor governance. True leadership requires more than charisma or military rank—it demands the wisdom to govern a society with justice, vision, and moral clarity. Without this, the future remains perilously fragile.

♦ Dominic Ikeogu is a social and political commentator based in Minneapolis, USA.

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