The Association of Metre Manufacturers of Nigeria has demanded the immediate suspension of the World Bank-funded bid procedure in a letter dated July 4, 2023, that was sent to the director general of the Bureau of Public Procurement.
According to Arise News, the meter manufacturers have filed a protest in opposition to the World Bank-funded bid process for the supply and installation of 1.2 million smart electricity meters to the 11 distribution companies under Phase 2 of the National Mass Metering Programme.
The letter was jointly signed by the manufacturers’ association’s Acting President, Ademola Agoro, and the Secretary, Duro Omogbenigun.
The association claimed that the World Bank-funded bid procedure, which was just announced by the TCN, primarily rewarded foreign companies with no record of their investments in the nation and was in opposition to the federal government’s strategy of backward integration.
According to the letter, the importers, the majority of whom are foreign nationals, have not yet made a verifiable investment in the federal government’s backward integration program.
“They have also made no investment in local manufacturing and assembling of meters in Nigeria, which has always been the standard requirement for Metre Assets Providers in Nigeria to demonstrate investments in backward integration and must have Metre Assembling in Nigeria. “
The group claimed that as a result of backward integration, its members had increased their production capacities by securing bank facilities to handle the supply of these meters to the distribution companies.
The meter producers specifically requested the BPP and the federal government to protect Nigerians’ investments and jobs by preventing the local metering sector from completely collapsing.
The organization requested that the BPP DG direct the immediate suspension of the TCN bid process for Phase 2 awaiting adequate consultation of the electricity sector’s stakeholders, particularly the meter manufacturers.
According to the statement, taking such action would assist allay the worries of its members regarding the ongoing Phase 1 of the NMMP and the awarding of contracts for the provision of four million meters to their members since November 2022, which have not yet been funded.
Additionally, they pleaded with the BPP head to instruct TCN, NERC, and CBN to uphold the contracts for the supply of four million metres that had been given to the regional meter producers in Phase 1 of the NMMP.
The association acknowledged the good intentions of TCN and NERC to mass-meter Nigerians and close the sector’s metering gap in order to address the country’s electricity problems but added that such good intentions should be carried out while respecting the sanctity of contracts.
