The House of Representatives has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a state of emergency on the power sector over challenges facing the sector.
This was sequel to a motion by Hon. Nnolim Nnaji on Thursday, stressing that the challenges in the sector were having a toll on most of the country’s problems.
The lawmaker noted, “absence of electricity for long periods causes discomfort and hampers productivity. It is also a known fact that electricity consumption has become a parameter by which the standard of living as well as the level of industrialisation of a nation is measured.
He argued that there was an ongoing failure of the sector to provide adequate electricity supply to domestic households and industrial producers, despite being a rapidly growing economy.
“At best, 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 3,000 MW or less is highly unacceptable,” he stated.
Other lawmakers who spoke also accused the Electricity Distributing Companies (DisCos) of under-performing and called for a review of the power sector privatisation.
The House subsequently mandated its Committee on Power to urgently call for a public hearing on the current state of electricity generation, transmission and distribution across Nigeria.
