Nigeria’s Central Bank has asked a court for a directive to freeze accounts of 157 companies in the Meter Asset Providers (MAPs) scheme for alegedly diverting funds meant for the procurement of prepaid meters. TheCable report cited a law suit filed at the federal high court in Lokoja in Kogi State on July 20, in which the CBN asked commercial banks to put a no debit order on the accounts of 10 companies which got power sector intervention funds under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) for 180 days as it investigates the firms.
The CBN identified the companies as Mojec Meter Asset Management Company Limited, Integrated Power Nigeria Limited, Holley Metering Limited, Prodigy Global Services Limited and Turbo Energy Limited.
The apex bank also mentioned G Unit Engineering Limited, Koby Global Engineering Services Limited, FLT Energy Systems Limited, Smart Meters Asset Provider Company Limited and Cresthill Engineering Limited. The bank said it reviewed the activities of the 12 companies and discovered they have diverted funds under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP). The CBN stated that the review wanted to know the flow of the funds which was made available to the MAPs which covers the period of January 1, 2020, to March 15, 2022.
According to the CBN, initial findings reveal that that the defaulting companies diverted a major part of the funds for other purposes via companies and individuals which are connected to the electricity distribution companies and the now defunct PHCN.
