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Disturbed by the poor performance of the power sector in Nigeria, members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday moved to probe its activities since 2001 involving over N2trillion investments.
Recall that this is about the eighth investigative hearing into the lacklustre performance of the vital sector in Nigeria from the sixth Assembly.
To this end ,the Committees on Power and Privatisation are expected to review the reforms in the sector and investigate its activities and report back to the House within four weeks.
Moving a motion tagged ‘Urgent Need to Probe the Activities of the Power Sector’ in Nigeria was promoted by Chuddy Momah representing Ihiala Federal Constituency of Anambra
Momah while making his submission went memory lane from 1998 till date citing the various power reforms in Nigeria.
MO
He noted that “before 1998. the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) was almost exciusively responsible for electricity generation. transmission. and distribution in Nigeria.
“Due to this, the Federal Government birthed the Electricity (Amendment) Decree 1998 and the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) (Amendment) Act 1998 which once passed, terminated the monopoly status of NEPA and invited private sector participation in the electricity sector. This eventually led to the National Electric Power Policy of 2001.
“This served the purpose of kicking off the power sector reform in Nigeria, leading to several other reforms over the last two decades.
“This reform process led to the National Assembly passing into law, the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act 2005 which provided for: an Act to provide for the formation of companies to take over the functions, assets, liabilities and staff of the National Electric Power Authority, to develop competitive electricity markets, to establish the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission
” The agency is to provide for the licensing and regulation of the generation, transmission, distribution and supply of electricity; to enforce such matters as performance standards, consumer rights and obligations; to provide for the determination of tariffs; and to provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing.
“It aIso saw the change of name from National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). This development removed the monopoly of electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and sales from the former NEPA.
“Worried that despite government regulatory framework, huge expenditure and private sector participation/investment to meet long term reform objectives.
“As an indication of failure to achieve the gains of the power sector reform in Nigeria, there is need to review the Power Sector Reforms.
1.That the Committee on Power & Privatization to review the extant laws, regulations, policies, and contractual arrangement guiding the Power Sector Reform.
2. To review and investigate activities of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry. 3. Direct the Committee to submit its report to the house within Four (4) weeks