THE House of Representatives Tuesday passed a resolution urging the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to halt its plan to increase electricity tariff across the country.
Adopting a motion sponsored by Aliyu Sani Madaki (APC Kano), the House also mandated its committee on power to investigate the rationale behind persistent increase in electricity tariff and report back to the chamber in two weeks.
Specifically, NERC had recently announced that a new electricity tariff plan would take effect from this month, which shows that consumers will now pay about twice the current tariff.
But Madaki, in his motion, noted that there has been erratic power supply by respective power companies in the country, warning that the planned increase in tariff would bring more hardship to Nigerians. He noted that the previous increases in electricity tariff plan did not yield any corresponding results, saying the projected estimates “to generate 4000 megawatts in 2008, 6000MW in 2009, 10,000MW in 2010 and 16,000MW in 2011 ended up in fiasco.”
The lawmaker said if the proposed increase in the electricity tariff was not stopped, “its multiple effects on the economy cannot be quantified.”
The motion was adopted by majority of members at the plenary as the Speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, referred it to the committee on power for further action.
The House, also yesterday, mandated its joint committees on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) (Downstream) and Justice to, within 30 days, investigate and unravel the oil companies allegedly aiding and abetting crude oil theft in the country.
The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Usman Jibrin, had, at a recent meeting with oil firms, reportedly threatened to expose such companies.
In a motion seeking the House’s investigation of the matter yesterday, Hassan Saleh said the allegation by Jibrin may have been borne out of dismay and frustration, as well as the nonchalant attitude of some of the chief executive officers of international oil companies at the meeting.
Lamenting the losses to the crude oil theft running into several billions of dollar, the lawmaker said: “The issue of oil theft is one major economic challenge that is facing the country, as it is adversely affecting the nation’s financial well-being,” adding that the theft is benefiting a few unpatriotic elements.
According to him, the international oil companies are not giving the desired cooperation to the Nigerian Navy. He described the situation as “disturbing as the Chief of Naval Staff has also accused some of those companies of creating an enabling environment that aid (illegal) oil bunkering, crude oil theft and piracy by leaving their oil wells open for years.”