The Minister of State for Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba, has denied knowledge of the indiscriminate electricity tariff imposed by Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on consumers
Speaking on the subject, the minister said issues with the Tariff are in the jurisdiction of the chairman of the Regulatory Commission.
Meanwhile, the organised labour had kicked against the over N3 trillion injected by federal government into the privatised electricity companies owned by individuals, without commensurate increase in power generation over the past 10 years.
The Secretary General of NUEE, Joe Ajaero expressed concern during the public hearing on a bill to amend Electric Power Sector Reform Act, 2005, to provide the legal and institutional framework for the implementation and coordination of Rural Electrification projects, establishment of the National Power Training Institute and Regulatory provisions to strengthen the sector for efficient services delivery and for related matters’, held at the instance of House Committee on Power chaired by Hon. Aliyu Magaji.
Ajaero, who argued that the privatisation had further compounded the economic woes, maintained that the exercise was designed to fail from the onset.
He said there has not been meaningful improvement or contribution by the current investors nine years after the privatisation and 17 years after the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, 2005 was signed into law.
While stressing the need to review the entire privatisation exercise, the NUEE scribe said: “Our position on privatisation is clear, but we are worried whether the amendments are critically based on market private public where we belong now. Having tried privatisation for 10 years, and we are doing just the amendment of sections of the act and even the review provision in the act which gives provision for the review of the sector after five years and we have written consistently and it has not happened.
In the bid to address myriad of challenges facing the industry, Ajaero underscored the need for review of shareholding of the industry.
In his remarks, Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Magaji, disagreed with the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) over power generation and distribution in the country.
