“If we find any disco or its representatives selling these meters or exploiting Nigerians to be able to get them, we will sanction such DisCo.”
The federal government
has said that it will sanction any electricity distribution company (DisCo) or
its representatives selling meters or asking Nigerians to pay money to get the
item.
The Special Adviser to
the President on Infrastructure, Ahmed Zakari, gave the warning at a
stakeholders’ engagement on electricity tariff, organised by the FGN/NLC-TUC
Ad-hoc Committee.
Mr Zakari said, “We
have made it clear through the regulator’s direct order as well as the
intervention from the Ministry of Power that these meters are to be provided to
Nigerians at no cost.
“Even for meters that
will be paid for through the MAP, there is a directive from the regulator to
the DisCos that they need to find a way to reimburse citizens over time.
“If we find any DisCo
or its representatives selling these meters or exploiting Nigerians to be able
to get them, we will sanction such disco.”
According to him, the
presidential directive is that meters should be made available to Nigeria free
of charge and that they must be produced locally in order to create jobs and
revive our industry.
“Though it is our
belief that everyone will be obliged to do the right thing, we will still be
vigilant and monitor developments,” Zakari said.
In his address, the
Minister of State for Power, Festus Keyamo, said that the committee had been
working to achieve an equilibrium figure that would reflect the true price and
value for the service of the electricity consumed.
“We are not working
from answer to question but from question to answer.
“To ask if there will
be an increase or a decrease is premature. What we are doing is a honest and
open fact- finding. We want to question the rationale for the service
reflective tariff,” he said.
According to Mr
Keyamo, the aim is to ensure that consumers are not strangulated by unnecessary
exploitative tendencies of the discos and that the discos too are kept afloat
so that they can employ more workers and deliver quality service to Nigerians.
“We are not saying
service delivery will automatically mean price increase. We are only saying
there should be an acceptable equilibrium figure that everybody will be happy
about
“And that means that
the discos can be kept afloat to deliver services without having to go and look
for money to subsidise their operations.
“It is also to ensure
that the ordinary consumer is not cheated but is made to pay the actual price
for the service being rendered and that is why it is called service reflective
tariff,” he said.
The minister further
said that whatever consensus reached at the end of the day would form the
agreement between the government and labour as far as electricity was
concerned.
Also speaking, the
representatives of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union
Congress (TUC), Oroho’omhen Ebhommhen and Joe Ajaero respectively, said that
the committee would address issues raised by the consumers and ensure that
issues on electricity tariff were resolved amicably.
In his remarks, John
Ayodele, the acting Managing Director of IBEDC, said that the issue of banding
was being finetuned, notwithstanding the current challenges.
Some of the
electricity consumers, who spoke at the event, identified estimated billings
and lack of meters as part of the major challenges facing the sector.
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