Abuja – The House of Representatives on Thursday summoned the Minister of Power, Mr Babatunde Fashola, to appear before its members to explain reasons for prevailing poor electricity supply in the country.

To appear with the minister are Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET), National Electricity and Regulatory Commission (NERC), Generation Companies (Gencos) and Distribution Companies (Discos).
Fashola, the agencies and companies as well stakeholders in the power sector are expected to be at a public hearing to be conducted by the House on the power supply issue.

The invitation followed a motion which came under Matter of Urgent Public Importance through Rep. Johnson Agbonayinma (Edo-PDP), who called for urgent an attention to epileptic electricity supply across the nation.

He recalled that defunct power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was unbundled in 2010 into generation, transmission and distribution companies because the Federal Government could not manage the company.

He said that splitting it and given them to private concerns was to ensure improved efficiency and profitability in the sector.

The lawmaker, however, expressed dissatisfaction that in spite of privatising the company at a “landmark 2.5 billion dollars’’, Nigerians were yet to feel the impact of the exercise.

“When the Federal Government had the distribution and generation companies, light was more constant than what Nigerians are experiencing today.”

He decried the current situation where power generation which was over 4,000 megawatts when PHCN was operational had dropped to 1,500 megawatts, throwing the nation into darkness.

Agbonayinma the low electricity generation contradicted government’s promise to in the new arrangement, provide 5, 000 megawatts to Nigerians in the first instance.

The lawmaker expressed dismay that the increase in petrol pump price, soaring rise in prices of food items, collapsed roads, unemployment, and insecurity, had contributed to the hardship being faced by Nigerians.

The motion was unanimously adopted by members through a voice vote and it referred was to the Committee on Power for further legislative action.

No date was fixed for the public hearing.

https://www.nairaland.com/3126880/police-arrest-nimbo-enugu-attackers

"My heart is heavy, my eyes are red. My Nephew, Ifiemi Igali, 22, studied Geography and Environmental management and a Batch A stream 2 Corper posted to Benue, was found dead yesterday in Lagos. His body was discovered abandoned by the roadside along a lonely street by Berger. We suspect he was murdered. Shortly after the call came through that his body was found, his Facebook account got cleaned out. No single content was left behind. I suspect something on his timeline was incriminating enough to worth the pain of a guilty person going through it and erasing everything. On thursday, he informed family members that he was going to Amassoma, to Niger Delta University, to collect his statement of result. His whattsapp was last active on Friday evening. No Family member was informed he was travelling to anywhere else but NDU, Amassoama until a Policeman called from Lagos with his number to Identify his body found by Berger,(the Policeman described Berger as an outskirts of Lagos, a boundary with a neighbouring state). Please, anyone with information of either having seen him,talked to him or saw him post anything on his Facebook this past weekend should PLEASE DM me or text me on 08064573333. Thank you in advance. Conquer Igali"

"About me and Teebillz, I mean, Me and Teebillz are still good. Still cool, we are family.. But I'm straight like that, I am real. I have not been able to talk to him for a very long time - since the incident that happened. I tried to message him but it wasn't going through and everything. So i had to move on with my life.. You know.
I mean, I've got ambition that I'm chasing, so for no reason would i allow anything to lock that down. I am a goal getter and I can't allow anything to slow me down. So that's it! Me and Teebillz are still cool, we are still family. Anytime we see, we would still holla, but at least, I'm a street guy, I have got to move, gotta move, gotta move. That is what matters the most. My career comes first before anything else."

Since President Muhammad Buhari took over the mantle of leadership of Nigeria, several economic indices have continued to spiral downward. The GDP, which had enjoyed several years of tremendous growth is down for the first time since 2004, recording negative growth in Q!, and placing the country in the throes of a recession.



The exchange rate is also down by over 300% to the major currencies basket and Nigerians are forced to deal with a lower purchasing power for every Naira earned and spent. Inflation is also up and the cost of most goods, products, services and food stuffs has increased astronomically, leading to hardship for many low and middle-income Nigerian households.



Some enthusiastic supporters of the Buhari government tend to blame the economic downturn on former President Goodluck Jonathan, however many Nigerians are disgruntled with the would be messiahs that flew the brooms high in order to be elected, only to later sweep away economic gains recorded under previous administrations.



The National Bureau of Statistics recently reported that 1.5 million jobs were lost in the first quarter of 2016. This report drew more condemnation for the Buhari administration, with many Nigerians taking to social media to vent their frustrations at the rising economic hardship.