Senate Rejects 45% Power Tariff Hike

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State (3rd left), inspecting the Nkpogu/NLNG bridge project in Port Harcourt on Saturday

President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki says the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly, yesterday, directed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), to immediately suspend the 45 per cent increment in electricity tariff which took effect on February 1, 2016.
The Senate President, who posted this information on his official Facebook wall yesterday, explained that the move “is necessary because any increase in cost, without the necessary improvement in service delivery by the power companies is unacceptable.”
He added that the Senate believes that, “the power distribution companies must work to ensure that every establishment in Nigeria is provided with capabilities for metered billing. Doing this would end the sharp practice of arbitrary billing, which estimates the power consumption of Nigerians in the generation of their monthly bills.”
The House of Representatives had even before the new tariff came into force requested NERC to suspend same to no avail. This is as the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, maintained that there is no going back on the electricity tariff increase.
Just last week, the organized labour and civil society organizations held nationwide rallies in protest of the tariff hike.
Meanwhile, following the resumption from its two-week recess, yesterday, the Senate has again suspended plenary for another one week.
The suspension was announced during yesterday’s plenary session at the Senate.
The Senate explained that the one-week break is to afford the lawmakers ample time to deliberate on the 2016 budget and for the budget committees to interact with ministries and Departments of state.
Owing to the series of inconsistencies and errors found in the budget submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari to the National Assembly- the deadline for passage of the document has been pushed back several times by the upper chamber.
The decision of the Senate came after President, Bukola Saraki, emerged from a closed session with the lawmakers.
What was discussed behind closed doors remains unknown, but it is absolutely certain that the Senators have embarked on another week-long break, because of the 2016 budget.