Members of the upper chambers of the national Assembly have raised concern over the technical and financial competences of investors in the nation’s power sector.
Their fears are unconnected with the weak growth and stability of the sector since the privatization spree few years ago.
The Chairman of the committee, Sen. Enyinnaya Abaribe, in a statement by the Head of Public Affairs Department, Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, Dr Usman Arabi, Wednesday said that “the committee members, who were on oversight visit to the commission, queried the reduction in cash collection, which they claimed was N15bn before rivatization, but had now reduced to about N5bn”.
The statement said the committee members were unhappy at the inability of the Distribution Companies to meter customers and their use of the estimated billing system.
Abaribe said “Are you sure the rivatization of the power sector is producing the needed result with the under-performance by the new investors”, and assured NERC of the committee’s readiness to empower the commission to enable it to perform its regulatory functions effectively.
According to the statement, the Chairman of NERC, Dr Anthony Akahis upbeat that the commission is doing all it could to ensure that the operators in the power sector value chain played by the rules.
