Declare State of Emergency on Power Sector, Reps Urge Buhari 1
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Declare State of Emergency on Power Sector, Reps Urge Buhari

The Nigerian House of Representatives has called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to declare a state of emergency on the power sector.

The call followed the unanimous adoption of a motion on the power sector at the plenary on Thursday.

Hon. Nnolim Nnaji, had moved the motion titled ‘Urgent Need to Declare State of Emergency on the Power Sector’.

Adopting the motion, the House urged Buhari to declare a state of emergency on the power sector.

The lawmakers also mandated the Committee on Power to “urgently call for a public hearing on the current state of electricity generation, transmission and distribution; to evaluate the real problems and come up with ideas on how we can expand our energy sources beyond hydro and gas plants to include coal, solar and other renewable sources of energy”.

They further directed the House Committee on Power to exercise its oversight powers by visiting the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and other relevant agencies under the Ministry of Power “with a view to ensuring absolute compliance with all the provisions of the existing Acts”.

In addition, the House directed the Committees on Power and on Legislative Compliance to ensure prompt implementation of the motion and report back within six weeks for further legislative actions.

Moving the motion, Nnaji said, “The House is aware that currently, there is an ongoing failure of the sector to provide adequate electricity supply to domestic households and industrial producers despite being a rapidly growing economy.

“Only a limited number of Nigeria’s population is connected to the energy grid whilst power supply difficulties are experienced around the country most of the time. At best, the average daily power supply is estimated at four hours, although several days can go by without any power at all.

“We are having a serious decline in power generation, thus the idea of our great nation generating 2,000 to 3,000MW or less is highly unacceptable;

“The House is further concerned that if there is no urgent declaration of a state of emergency in the power sector, the collateral damage this will cause us in the nearest future will be unprecedented.”

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