Headline

Unmetered Electricity Consumers Hit 7.8 Million

Published

3 years ago

January 8, 2023

…Nigeria earns N4.4bn from three-month power export

The number of power consumers on estimated billing, who lack meters, has risen to over 7.8 million, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has said.

It was gathered that the number of unmetered power users increased from about six million in 2021 to the latest figure as at last year.

The NERC also revealed that Nigeria earned an estimated N4.4bn from the export of electricity in three months. It disclosed this in its just-released first quarter 2022 report, obtained in Abuja on Friday.

The commission said, “The huge metering gap for end-use customers is still a key challenge in the industry. It is estimated that of the 12,542,581 registered energy customers as at March 2022, only 4,740,114 (37.79 per cent) have been metered.”

This implies that a total of 7,802,467 power users are without meters and receive estimated electricity bills.

The NERC added, “A total of 85,510 meters were installed in 2022/Q1 as compared to the 79,978 meters installed in 2021/Q4. At a macro level, quarterly meter installations have been reducing as a result of the winding down of the National Mass Metering Programme phase 0.

“By comparison, the net metering rate dropped from 45.40 per cent metering as at December 2021 to 37.79 per cent in March 2022. This can be explained by the constant updating of Discos (distribution companies) customer base information as a result of ongoing customer enumeration.”

The commission, however, said it had continued to engage relevant stakeholders to ensure month-on-month increments in metering rate.

The report stated that the NERC was also instituting safeguards against the over-billing of unmetered customers by setting maximum limits to the amount of energy that might be billed to an unmetered customer during a period.

On January 2, 2023, The PUNCH reported that six million meters would be deployed nationwide in the first and second quarters of this year to reduce the number of unmetered electricity consumers in Nigeria, according to the Federal Government.

The report stated that the government disclosed in a December 2022 document on the review of the performance of the power sector/Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry under the current administration.

“We are perfecting plans for an additional six million meters under the second and third phases of the (NMMP) programme that will commence in the first and second quarters of 2023 respectively,” the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, stated in the document.

Meanwhile, the NERC, in its latest quarterly report, stated that Nigeria earned a total of $9.98m (about N4.4bn at the exchange rate of N440/$) from the export of electricity during the three-month review period.

On remittance by special and international customers, the commission stated that in 2022/Q1, no remittance was made by Ajaokuta Steel Company for invoices of N391.65m and N69.45m issued to it by the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc and power Market Operator respectively.

It, however, stated that “during the same period, bilateral customers: Paras-SBEE, Transcorp-SBEE, and Mainstream-NIGERLEC received invoices of $2.72m, $2.74m and $4.61m from MO and each remitted $2.72m (100 per cent), $2.74m (100 per cent), and $4.52m (98 per cent) respectively.”

It added, “Odukpani-CEET received an invoice of $3.42m from MO during the period but no payment was made by this customer. The non-settlement of market obligations by this category of market participants should push MO and NBET to activate relevant safeguards for remittance shortfalls.”
PUNCH

Headline

NGO Says Starving Gaza Children Too Weak To Cry

Published

3 hours ago

August 27, 2025

Editor

The head of Save the Children described in horrific detail on Wednesday the slow agony of starving children in Gaza, saying they are so weak they do not even cry.

Addressing a Security Council meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the president of the international charity, Inger Ashing, said famine — declared by the UN last week to be happening in Gaza — is not just a dry technical term.

“When there is not enough food, children become acutely malnourished, and then they die slowly and painfully. This, in simple terms, is what famine is,” said Ashing.

She went on to describe what happens when children die of hunger over the course of several weeks, as the body first consumes its own fat to survive, and when that is gone, literally consumes itself as it eats muscles and vital organs.

“Yet our clinics are almost silent. Now, children do not have the strength to speak or even cry out in agony. They lie there, emaciated, quite literally wasting away,” said Ashing.

She insisted that aid groups have been warning loudly that famine was coming as Israel prevented food and other essentials from entering Gaza over the course of two years of war triggered by the Hamas attack of October 2023.

“Everyone in this room has a legal and moral responsibility to act to stop this atrocity,” said Ashing.

The United Nations officially declared famine in Gaza on Friday, blaming what it called the systematic obstruction of aid by Israel during more than 22 months of war.

A UN-backed hunger monitor called the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative said famine was affecting 500,000 people in the Gaza governorate, which covers about a fifth of the Palestinian territory, including Gaza City.

The IPC projected that the famine would expand by the end of September to cover around two-thirds of Gaza.
AFP

Headline

Again, Russia Claims Another Village In Ukraine’s Region

Published

2 days ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The Russian army Monday claimed to have captured another village in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, moving deeper into Ukrainian territory as peace efforts stall.

Russian forces are slowly but steadily gaining ground in costly battles for largely devastated areas in eastern and central Ukraine, normally with few inhabitants or intact buildings left.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had seized the settlement of Zaporizke in the region, which Russian troops recently advanced into for the first time in the three-and-a-half-year offensive.

Kyiv denies that Russian troops have gained a foothold in the Dnipropetrovsk region, an important industrial hub.

After another push by US President Donald Trump to broker a Ukraine-Russia summit, hopes for peace dimmed when Russia last week ruled out any immediate meeting between presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky.

The central region of Dnipropetrovsk has previously been largely spared from fighting that has ravaged swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine, until Russia said its forces broke through in July.

Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the five Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea — that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory.

Ukraine said Russia had launched over 100 drones Monday, killing a 37-year old civilian driver and wounding two people in the northeastern Sumy region.

Moscow said Kyiv had launched about two dozen drones targeting western Russia

Headline

US Comedian Reggie Carroll Shot Dead In Mississippi

Published

2 days ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

A United States comedian, Reginald “Reggie” Carroll, has been shot dead in Southaven, Mississippi.

The 52-year-old Carroll, widely known as the Knockout King of Comedy, was reportedly killed on Wednesday, August 20, 2025, after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds.

The Southaven Police Department confirmed the incident in a Facebook statement on Saturday.

“Southaven officers located one male victim suffering from gunshot wounds.

“The officers and medical personnel provided life saving techniques but the individual succumbed to his injuries,” the statement partly read.

The victim was later identified as Carroll, a Baltimore native.

Police said one suspect was arrested and charged with his murder.

“One male is in custody and has been charged with the murder of Reginald Carroll.

“Our thoughts are with the family of Mr. Carroll.

“Thank you to the community for their patience and understanding,” the department added.

The police further assured that there was no ongoing threat to residents, describing the case as “an isolated shooting.”

Carroll, who built his career in stand-up comedy, gained national recognition touring with Katt Williams and headlining his own showcase, Knockout Kings of Comedy.

He also featured in the 2000 edition of Showtime at the Apollo, appeared on the UPN sitcom The Parkers alongside Mo’Nique and Countess Vaughn, and starred in the 2022 television film Rent & Go.

In 2023, he produced the stand-up special Knockout Kings of Comedy.

The Southaven Police Department disclosed that an investigation into his death is ongoing.