The House of Representatives has said the manufacturing sector lost $200 billion while other Nigerians spent $21 billion on generators between 2015 and 2021 on self-generated electricity due to poor electricity supply from the national grid.
The House also called on the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to suspend the proposed increase in electricity tariff.
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According to Aniekan Umanah who moved the motion at the plenary on Thursday, NERC, working with Distribution Companies (DisCos), increased electricity tariff five times since 2015, the latest being on January1, 2021.
According to him, despite the increases, Nigerians have not enjoyed significant improvement in power generation, but grapple with epileptic supply and poor services from the DisCos.
“Poor services by the DisCos have impacted negatively on the socio-economic growth of the country as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Report of 2020 on Nigeria indicated that the manufacturing sector lost over $200bn to inadequate power supply while a whopping $21bn was said to have been spent by Nigerians on generating sets within the period under review.”
The House, therefore, urged the federal government to direct NERC to rescind the decision to further increase electricity tariff proposed for June, 202l, in view of the hard times Nigerian masses were going through.
The house mandated the committees on power, poverty alleviation and labour, employment and productivity to ensure compliance.
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