The national assembly says it has convinced electricity
distribution companies (DisCos) to halt the proposed increase in tariff for
power consumers.
In a statement, Ola Awoniyi, spokesman of Senate President
Ahmad Lawan, said during a meeting on Monday, the leadership of the legislative
chamber agreed with the DisCos to suspend the planned increase.
In January, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission
(NERC) had announced that there would be an upward review of electricity tariff
across the country from April 1.
However in March, it directed electricity distribution
companies (DisCos) to suspend the proposed tariff increase due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
Sale Mamman, minister of power, later said the proposed hike
will take effect from July.
At the meeting attended by other stakeholders in the power
sector, the leadership of the national assembly was said to have convinced the
DisCos to defer the plan till the first quarter of 2021 because of the effect
of COVID-19 pandemic.
”The agreement here is that there is not going to be any
increase in the tariffs on July 1st,” Lawan was quoted as saying.
“The speaker and I, we are going to take appropriate action
and meet with the president. We are in agreement here that there is no question
on the justification of the increase but the time is simply not right and
appropriate measures need to be put in place
“So, between now and the first quarter of next year, our
task will be to work together with you to ensure that we put those blocks in
place to support the eventual increase in tariffs.
“The potential increase in the tariffs is definitely
something that will be of concern to us in the national assembly.
“There is too much stress in the lives of Nigerians today
and indeed across the world because of the challenges imposed by COVID-19 pandemic
and even before then, we had issues that would always make it tough for our
people to effectively pay the tariffs.
“One way or the other, for this business to flourish, for
this sector to be appropriately fixed, for it to attract investment, something
has to give way, there is no doubt about that but it is also crucial that we
look at the timing for any of our actions.”
Femi Gbajabiamila, the speaker of the house of
representatives, said “there cannot be a time as bad as this for us to increase
anything” in relation to the hike.”
“The good things is that we have agreed that we need to do
something about the cost,” the speaker said.
“How did we arrive at the tariffs or costs. Who were the
stakeholders that were present? What was the role of the national assembly?
“More importantly, is the president aware of this because
the president is perhaps the biggest stakeholder of all, apart from the
Nigerian people.
“Whatever will affect his government is something that
should concern all of us. I think this will affect his government. This timing,
not the increase; the timing. I think it will affect this government and if it
is going to affect his government, we should all rally around our people, our
president and the government to make sure we do the right thing.”
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