The intervention of the leadership of the National Assembly into the planned hike of electricity tariffs from July 1st, 2020 has yielded the desired result
The leaders of both chambers were able to convince the Distribution Companies(DISCOs) at a meeting in the National assembly to defer the plan till the first quarter of 2021, making reference to the negative impact of Covid-19 on the economy.
Also in attendance were the Chairmen of the Committees on Power from the Senate and House of Representatives.
The National Assembly leaders were emphatic at the meeting that the timing of the planned hike was wrong even though they not have issues with the need to introduce a cost reflective tariffs for the power sector to attract the much needed investment.
In the course of the meeting, the DISCOs too admitted that they were not well prepared for the planned hike in tariffs even though they so much desired the increase.
The meeting agreed to defer the planned hike till first quarter of next year while the leadership of the National Assembly promised to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari on the issue.
“The agreement here is that there is not going to be any increase in the tariffs on July 1st,” Lawan said.
“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,” Lawan stressed.
Lawan added that the federal government has been doing a lot as part of its obligations to provide some form of Intervention.
“I’m quite aware that for this year, probably starting from last year, over N600 billion was earmarked for this sector”.
“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,” Lawan said.
In the same vein, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Gbajabiamila said the National Assembly is on the same page with the DISCOs on the issue of cost-reflective tariffs.
“There is time for everything. A well intended programme or policy of government can fall flat on the face and never recover if you do it at a wrong time”.
“There cannot be a time as bad as this for us to increase anything. Forget about electricity, anything. Whereas, even in time of decreasing revenue, we are even reducing the pump price. I don’t know how we can justify an increase in the cost of electricity at this time in Nigeria”.
“The good things is that we have agreed that we need to do something about the cost,” the Speaker said.
Gbajabiamila posed some questions to DISCOs and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission(NERC): “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,apart from the Nigerian people.
The representatives of the DISCOs said they expect Government to bear the the difference in the present tariff and what was considered the appropriate tariff,if the the planned hike is eventually referred til next year.
Also Read: Nigerians kick against electricity tariffs hike at public hearings nationwide
In attendance at the meeting were the representatives of NERC, Kano Electricity Distribution Company, Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company and Eko Electricity Distribution Company.
(Editor: Abajen Usekwe)
