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The Senate on Tuesday directed the immediate reversal of the recent hike in electricity tariff announced by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission. The upper chamber, gave the directive while adopting a two-prayer motion moved by the All Progressives Congress member representing Bauchi North, Senator Suleiman Nazif. The senate also asked its committee on Labour to carefully review the law establishing NERC with a view to making it a strong regulatory  body that will ensure that both the consumer and investor will be treated fairly and equitably. It also mandated the committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity to organise a public hearing of stakeholders, including the Ministry of Power; the NERC; DISCOS; and GENCOS so that an acceptable way of resolving all issues relating to the sector  could be effectively resolved. Nazif lamented the alleged arbitrary increase of the tariff and insisted that due process was not followed as stipula...

The Nigeria Labor Congress and the Trade Union Congress have mobilised workers to protest against the increased electricity tariffs in the country.  The NLC had on different occasions called on the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission to jettison the recent increase in electricity tariffs while warning that if the Commission failed to heed, it would embark on a nationwide strike.  Ayuba Wabba, the NLC President said that the current hike would make it the fifth time since 2012 and was therefore not acceptable while, describing the new tariffs as outrageous.  Wabba, in the statement where he called for the protest, had said that: “It is a nationwide protest, meaning that the 36 states of the Federation including Abuja will be involved in this action.  “Our members have been sufficiently mobilized and are ready to go. If you are an electricity consumer and you are not happy with the bills electricity companies serve you every month, you are invit...

A report by the United Nations Humanitarian Coordination Agency (OCHA) has revealed that between 2,000 to 7,000 women and girls have been abducted and used as sex slaves since the beginning of Boko Haram onslaught in the North East six years ago. The report revealed that women and girls abducted by Boko Haram (at least 2,000) are often raped, forced into marriage, labour, religious conversion, physically, sexually, emotionally abused, exposed to sexually transmitted infections and are often pregnant when escaping captivity.  It would be recalled that there have been several reports on the abduction of women and girls in some villages in the North East and this include the schoolgirls that were abducted in Chibok, Borno State. OCHA in a statement unveiling its 2016 Humanitarian Response Plan and signed by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Jean Gough, lamented that some adolescent girls have reportedly engaged in survival sex to meet their basic needs.  I...

The minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Monday unfolded a 13-point agenda to drive efforts towards enhancing power supply in the country.  Mr. Fashola said in Abuja during his maiden meeting with power generation, distribution and transmission companies that the agenda was drawn up to ensure effective monitoring of the sector.  The minister said the agenda involves continuous public engagement on tariff collection, debts, power generation, maintenance, ancillary services, dispatch orders and discipline.  Other areas include gas requirement and constraints, transmission constraints, 33KV load offtake, imbalances-locations of excess, overload safety, service quality, new captive and embedded generation, franchising and other issues relevant to the growth of the sector.  According to Mr. Fashola, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved that all parties in the sector should hold monthly meetings on issues concerning the industr...

Electricity consumers serviced by the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (Ikeja Electric) have cried out over increasing arbitrariness in electricity bills circulated by the utility company. Across, Alausa, Oregun, Ikeja, and neighbouring areas covered by Ikeja Disco, consumers using the old meters, said they are loaded with ‘unimaginably exorbitant’ bills, such that they are perpetually in deficit, and ‘may never get light unless they off-set them’ once the new set of pre-paid meters are installed. From small to big business owners and household consumers, it has been a season of endless lamentations. The general complaint, according to one of them, is that consumers that are being given bills that are obviously above their consumption levels. The consumer said those who have complained are being given pre-paid meters, but are asked to pay whatever amount they have on their bills, regardless of whatever case they have. “They came installed the meter...

Rural dwellers in Kogi State have cried out over what they termed, “the exploitation” of consumers by Electricity Distribution Companies.  They alleged that the power distribution company covering Kogi has been serving them exorbitant bills even as power is barely provided.  Our reporters who visited Odo Ere, Iyamerin and Igbaruku, all in Yagba West Local Government Area were told how the company has been collecting rates for unprovided services. At Igbaruku, a middle aged primary school teacher who simply identified herself as Mrs Adeyemi told Vanguard the gory tail of the shylock exploitation of electricity consumers in the area.  Her story: “As you can see, we barely have electricity here. At times, we may not even have electricity supply for two weeks, yet, the electricity distribution company will come with bogus bills. “What we don’t know is how they generate their bills. How can you ask an old woman who didn’t see light for 21 da...