MAPs: CBN’s fund diversion allegation baseless…we supplied prepaid meters to DisCos

Some Meter Asset Providers (MAPs) have described the allegation of fund diversion levelled against them by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as baseless.

On Tuesday, TheCable had reported how the CBN, on July 20, filed a suit at the federal high court in Lokoja, Kogi state capital, requesting commercial banks to restrict the account of some companies for 180 days for allegedly diverting funds meant for the procurement of prepaid meters.

The apex bank accused the companies of receiving power sector intervention funds under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), but deployed the money for a different purpose.

In a chat with TheCable, on Wednesday, Ademola Agoro, managing director of Protogy Global Services Limited, one of the companies indicted by the CBN, said the firm supplied prepaid meters to DisCos as stipulated in its contract.

He added that the CBN restricted the bank accounts of Protogy Global Services on July 23 without any notification or court papers sent to the company.

“The accusation was baseless and we have documents to confirm our supplies,” Agoro said.

“Protogy was contracted to supply and install 39,158 meters by IBEDC. All the meters were supplied and installed. 3,057 was contracted for Enugu DisCo, all the meters were supplied and installed.

“We have over 100 permanent staff and over 400 contract staff. The freezing of our account without inviting us or approved court order has closed down the company’s operations. We have about 10,000 meters that just arrived the airport and 38,000 due to arrive the Apapa airport very soon that we are having difficulty in clearing.”

In a statement, Mojec Meter Asset Management Company Ltd. (M3AC), also indicted by the CBN, refuted the allegation of diversion of funds under the NMMP.

The company said it fully discharged its obligations of manufacturing, supply and installation of meters for all eight DisCos nationwide.

The company further noted that it is in possession of certificates of completion issued by all eight of its DisCo clients as proof of execution of its contractual obligations.

“Mojec further states its willingness and ability to release all meter serial numbers produced in its factories and records of waybills of all in-country volumes of meters it produced that were sent to the various DisCos from its factories upon production. It further has records of a weekly tracking management mechanism that it uses in tracking its weekly supply & installation across the country,” the company said.

“This system was instituted 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 AMI systems are deployed. Every single meter MOJEC has installed can be verified and are active on the AMI system for ALL view.”

Mojec further noted that with the methodology used by the federal government for the disbursement of the funds, it was impossible for funds to be diverted.