Dogara decries epileptic electricity supply after sector gulped N2.74tr

South east faces drop

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has decried epileptic power supply even after the sector had gulped N2.74 trillion from 1999 to 2015.

Speaking at the stakeholders interactive dialogue and workshop on the Nigerian Power Sector organised by the National Assembly at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja yesterday, the speaker maintained that the challenges faced by the sector call for concerted efforts.

According to Dogara, it is in order to change the epileptic power situation that the National Assembly organised the workshop for power sector experts and other stakeholders to engage in holistic diagnosis of the challenges impeding the development of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) and proffer practical solutions.

He said the challenges run across the entire power value chain of generation, transmission and distribution. “The myriad issues were apparently exacerbated by inadequate funding, poor energy mix, fuel supply issues, flawed regulatory framework and commercial issues among others. There is therefore a need for concerted efforts by all stakeholders to address these myriad problems,” he stated.

Dogara said the diagnosis include but not limited to a critical analysis of the extant legislations and regulatory framework guiding the Nigerian power sector to determine if there is a need for amendments or enactment of new laws that will galvanize the sector to deliver the required results.

He charged the participants to focus on finding answers that would lead to the repositioning of the power sector for effective delivery to Nigerians.

Meanwhile, power supply in the southeast has dropped drastically despite the commencement of the implementation of new tariffs regime in the zone by the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC).

Sources said the company, which has the capacity to distribute up to 1,000 megawatts of electricity to consumers in the zone, hardly distributes up to 200 mega watts presently, owing to poor generation.

Investigations by The Guardian revealed that the new tariffs, which took off from February 1, this year was in line with the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) guidelines for all categories except for residential consumers, who will continue to enjoy N4 per unit until year 2024.

Some consumers in Enugu for instance, allege that the situation may have gone from bad to worse, stressing that they could go for upward of two to three days without a flash of electricity.

The President of Enugu Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ECCIMA), Rev Ugochukwu Chime, who seems perturbed by the development, said yesterday that it had continued to engage the EEDC officials in view of the negative impacts it was creating on the economy of the zone.

Chime told reporters while inaugurating the promotional campaign for the 28th Enugu International Trade Fair, that the chamber was concerned and had not relented to ensure an improvement of energy supply in the southeast.