Power: Senate urges NERC on more stringent enforcement

By Etuka Sunday.

The Senate Committee on Privatisation has urged the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to be more stringent in the enforcement of rules.

The Chairman of the committee, Senator Olugbenga Obadara who made the call when the committee paid an oversight visit to the commission said that the Commissions needs to wheel the big stick to make sure rules are followed.

Senator Olugbenga Obadara said that the committee was well aware of the enormity of the job before the Commission, pointing out that NERC is the bridge between the operators and the people.

He asserted that the committee believes wholeheartedly in the privatisation exercise and want to ensure that it doesn’t go the way of other reforms in the past. He suggested that it will be helpful to “think out of the box” for solutions to some of the problems facing the sector.

Also speaking, the Chairman/CEO of the Commission, Dr. Sam Amadi, represented by the Vice-Chairman of the Commission, Muhammed Lawal Bello, commended the members of the Senate Committee on Privatisation for giving them the necessary support to complete the huge transactions that ushered in the privatized electricity market, stating that, “…there was no reference point before this. The issue now is to pursue the reform to make sure it succeeds”.

A statement by the Head, Public Affairs Department, NERC, Dr. Usman Abba Arabi quoted the NERC Vice-Chairman to have reassured the members of the committee that NERC was doing everything in its power to find solutions.

He also informed them on the open and transparent discussions that the Commission holds monthly with the Chief Executive Officers of the Generation and Distribution companies in order to proactively deal with any issues that arise that could detrimentally affect the electricity sector reform.