The Senate on Wednesday appealed to the Executive arm of government to sustain the electricity subsidy regime amid ongoing hardships in the country as a means of averting a further escalation of the sundry micro and macroeconomic whirlwinds in the economy.
The Red Chamber’s decision followed the deliberation and endorsement of a motion in a plenary session about the necessity of maintaining the electricity subsidy in the country in the interim
The motion was raised by Senator Aminu Abbas and 10 other lawmakers, who raised serious concern over the N1.3 trillion debt owed power-generating companies and the $1.3 million owed gas companies by the Ministry of Power.
The Senate also resolved to investigate the involvement of the Ministry of Power, the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, and Ziglaks Company, on the unfulfilled agreement to supply prepaid meters to electricity consumers in the country.
It would be recalled that last week, the Federal Government claimed that sustaining the electricity subsidy now had become “very difficult,” due to the rising increase in electricity debt.
The Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, who disclosed that N1.3 trillion was owed electricity generating companies (GenCos) and $1.3 billion was owed the gas providers, stressed the imperative of shifting towards tariffs that reflect actual costs.
According to him, the 2024 budget provided for electricity subsidy of N450 billion, but that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC’s) forecasts indicated that the subsidy expense could soar to N2.9 trillion within the year.
