The House of Representatives ordered DISCOs to repay a failed metering loan — but the deeper story is what the probe didn’t say out loud.
KEHINDE ADEGOKE unearths
The House of Representatives has ordered eleven electricity distribution companies to refund ₦55.42 billion disbursed under the National Mass Metering Programme — a CBN‑backed scheme launched in 2020 to deliver free meters to six million Nigerian households and end estimated billing.
Six years later, six million households remain without meters, and estimated billing continues. The House committee investigating the programme identified a financial structure full of ambiguities, inconsistencies, and contradictions, raising issues beyond the ₦55.42 billion figure.
TheDiggerNews.com has reviewed the committee’s findings and identified five areas the mainstream coverage of this story has not addressed — and which the Nigerian public deserves to understand fully.
THE ₦3.85 BILLION BLACK HOLE
The National Mass Metering Programme’s Phase 0 earmarked ₦59.28 billion for eleven DISCOs. The amount actually disbursed was ₦55.42 billion. The difference — ₦3.85 billion — has not been accounted for in any public document, committee report, or government statement reviewed by TheDiggerNews.com.
This is not a rounding error. It is a gap of nearly four billion naira between what was committed and what was released — and nobody in the CBN, NERC, or the programme’s management structure has provided a public explanation for where it went, who authorised the reduction, or whether it was returned to the federal treasury.
The House committee noted that the investigation revealed the DISCOs received ₦55.42 billion, leaving ₦3.85 billion unaccounted for. That sentence appeared in the committee report. It has not been followed by a single question in public discourse about the whereabouts of the ₦3.85 billion.
TheDiggerNews.com is asking that question now.
MERISTEM’S 2030 STRANGLEHOLD — AND WHAT IT WILL COST NIGERIANS
The second crucial story concerns Meristem Wealth Management Limited, which was appointed to manage and administer funds for the NMMP. The House committee flagged a contract clause as suspicious, suggesting it grants Meristem greater financial influence over the metering initiative than has been publicly discussed.
This clause awards Meristem 0.5 per cent of each DISCO’s annual collections through 2030. Meristem has received at least ₦450 million so far, and this payment structure binds the company’s compensation directly to funds collected from electricity consumers during NMMP’s crucial years.
However, the broader implications of this arrangement remain unclear. The public does not yet know the full cost of Meristem’s ongoing compensation or how its involvement might affect the sector’s financial structure over time.
Given that the eleven DISCOs collectively bill and collect substantial sums each year, Meristem’s 0.5 per cent share could result in billions of naira leaving the sector by 2030. This arrangement could shape electricity financing for years, even as the House committee has declared the metering programme a failure.
The committee has directed Meristem to provide its profile and structure, along with a detailed report on its work, including how its activities have impacted national electricity collections. That is a starting point — not an ending point. The Nigerian public deserves to know who owns Meristem Wealth Management, who appointed it, under what procurement process it was selected, and how its role influences the sector through the collection of 0.5 per cent of national electricity revenues until 2030.
THE GHOST SPV — NESI-SSL
A Special Purpose Vehicle, NESI-Stabilisation Strategy Limited (NESI-SSL), was chosen by the CBN to manage NMMP fund flows among the apex bank, DISCOs, and programme administrators.
NESI-SSL’s ownership, board, and finances remain undisclosed in major Nigerian outlets, even though it managed ₦55.42 billion of public funds without public accountability since 2020.
During its investigation, the House committee engaged NESI-SSL and found ambiguities, inconsistencies, and contradictions in programme management. Findings were presented; NESI-SSL’s ownership and governance structure remained undisclosed.
TheDiggerNews.com is filing a Freedom of Information request for NESI-SSL’s Corporate Affairs Commission registration, its directors’ register, and its audited accounts for the period 2020 to 2025.
THE INTEREST THAT NOBODY IS COUNTING
The House of Representatives ordered the DISCOs to repay the ₦55.42 billion loan. The loan carried a nine per cent interest rate — six per cent to financiers and three per cent to the CBN.
But the repayment order, as reported, focuses on the principal. The interest calculation has not been publicly stated, debated, or demanded in any committee report or media coverage reviewed by TheDiggerNews.com.
At nine per cent on ₦55.42 billion over five years, the interest liability runs to approximately ₦24.9 billion — bringing the total repayment obligation to over ₦80 billion. That figure has not appeared in any public document connected to this investigation.
Is the interest being waived? Is it being separately negotiated? Has any of it been paid? The House committee’s seven-month repayment deadline covers the principal. The interesting question remains publicly unanswered.
THE ABANDONED PHASES — AND THE WORLD BANK MONEY
The original NMMP was designed in three phases. Phase 0 — the subject of the current scandal — was to deliver one million meters. Phase 1 was to deliver 1.5 million meters, funded by the CBN and deposit money banks. Phase 2 was to deliver four million meters, funded by the World Bank.
Together, the three phases were to deliver 6.5 million meters and permanently end Nigeria’s metering crisis.
Phase 0 delivered 962,832 meters — 37,168 short of its one million target — before collapsing into the current scandal. Phases 1 and 2 have effectively vanished from public discourse. No announcement has been made about their status. No explanation has been provided for why they were not implemented. Most critically, the World Bank funding committed for Phase 2 has not been publicly accounted for. Was it drawn down? Was it returned? Was it redirected?
Nigeria’s metering gap remains one of the most damaging structural problems in its electricity sector. Millions of consumers continue to pay estimated bills. And the programme designed to fix that problem — in three phases, with combined funding from the CBN, deposit money banks, and the World Bank — has delivered fewer than one million meters and produced a ₦55.42 billion repayment order.
THE QUESTIONS THAT DEMAND ANSWERS
TheDiggerNews.com is seeking an audience with the following institutions and will publish all responses in full:
To the CBN: Where is the ₦3.85 billion difference between the ₦59.28 billion earmarked and the ₦55.42 billion disbursed? Was it returned to the federal treasury? If not, where is it?
To Meristem Wealth Management: Under what procurement process was the firm appointed as the NMMP fund manager? Who owns Meristem Wealth Management? What is the total amount it expects to collect under the 0.5 per cent clause by 2030?
To NESI-SSL: Who are its directors and shareholders? What are its audited accounts for 2020 to 2025? What specific services did it provide as a Special Purpose Vehicle for the NMMP?
To NERC: What is the current status of NMMP Phases 1 and 2? Has the World Bank funding committed for Phase 2 been drawn down, returned, or redirected?
To the House Committee: Does the seven-month repayment order include the nine per cent interest on the principal? If not, what is the separate mechanism for interest recovery?
THE BOTTOM LINE
The House of Representatives has ordered eleven DISCOs to repay ₦55.42 billion. That order is necessary and overdue. But it addresses the surface of a scandal whose depth has not yet been fully mapped.
Behind the headline is a ₦3.85 billion gap, 0.5 per cent of electricity collections awarded until 2030 to a private firm, a Special Purpose Vehicle with undisclosed ownership, an interest liability of nearly ₦25 billion still unclaimed, and the disappearance of two additional programme phases promising 5.5 million more meters.
The metering crisis that the NMMP was designed to solve remains unsolved. Nigerians are still being estimated-billed. And the ₦55.42 billion that was supposed to fix that problem is now the subject of a repayment order — rather than the foundation of a functioning electricity system.
That is not just a financial scandal. It is a governance failure of the first order — and its full dimensions have not yet been told.
