The Nigerian Senate has warned the Federal Government not to hike electricity tariff under any guise, noting that doing so would worsen the plight of Nigerians.
The upper legislative chamber issued the warning on
Wednesday at a plenary presided by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The Senate further adopted a resolution asking its Committee
on Power to investigate the over N2 trillion subsidy requirements, as claimed
by the Minister of Power, and another N1.3 trillion owed electricity Generation
Companies (GENCOs) as well as a $1.3 billion debt to gas companies.
Senators who earlier contributed to the motion, expressed
concerns about the planned increase in electricity tariff, wondering if the
Federal Government was sensitive to the plight of Nigerians over hunger and
economic cash crunch at the moment.
The motion which was sponsored by Senator Aminu Iya Abba
alongside 10 other lawmakers notified the upper legislative chamber of the
planned electricity tariff hike and warned that “doing at this time would have
backlash”.
The sponsor of the motion also called on the electricity
companies to stop arbitrary billing of unmetered customers.
Supporting the motion, former Speaker of the House of
Representatives and former governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, cautioned
the Federal Government, saying it should first tackle hunger and hardship faced
by citizens before contemplating electricity tariff hike.
After a debate, the Senate resolved that the Federal
Government should stop the planned electricity tariff hike in the interest of
Nigerians.
They further resolved that “the Minister of Power should be
investigated over the N2 trillion he said was needed for electricity tariff to
avoid the repeat of fuel subsidy scandal”.
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