The deputy Speaker of the House Benjamin Kalu presiding over plenary
House of Representatives has urged the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) not to approve increase in electricity tariff in Nigeria.
Adopting a motion by a member from Kano state, Mr Aliyu Madaki, the House mandated the Committee on Power (when constituted) to interface with NERC to address the proposed increase in the interest of Nigerians.
Leading the debate, Mr Madaki, said recently Distribution Companies (DISCOS) alerted customers of a planned electricity tariff hike hinged on the Multi-Year Tariff Oder (MYTO).
The Lawmaker said under the planned hike, customers with prepaid meters, within ‘B’ and ‘C’ with supply hours ranging from 12–16 hours per day will pay N100 per KWh, while Bands ‘A’ with 20 hours and above and ‘B’ with 16-20 hours, would experience comparatively higher tariffs.
He also said those on post-rand (estimated) billing, would also expect significant increment.
Mr Madaki expressed concern that the proposed increase was coming despite the inability of the operators to supply at least 5,000 megawatts per year after signing the contract with the NERC.
According to him, it is inappropriate to come up with a price increase at a time when Nigerians are still battling with increase in petrol price.
Contributing to the debate, Mr Babajimi Benson from Lagos state, argued that the DISCOS and GENCOS should be invited to hear their own side of the story, due to the rise in the price of production and exchange rate.
Bamidele Salaam from Osun state emphasised the need for the government to improve workers welfare to enable them to afford the new hike rather than stop it.
Adopting the motion, the Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who presided over the meeting referred it to the committee on power when constituted.
House investigate aviation fuel contamination
The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate incessant incidences of aviation fuel contamination, associated air travel risks and possible non-adherence to standard operating procedures and industry best practices in the aviation oil industry.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent public importance by a member from Kwara state Mr Tunji Olawuyi also at the plenary on Thursday.
In his lead debate, the lawmaker said the contamination of the main fuel tanks of Boeing 737-300 aircraft belonging to Max Air B737-300 lead to the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) to shut down on July 7 at the Yola Airport.
Mr Olawuyi said Max Air had reportedly confirmed that it got the contaminated fuel from certain undisclosed aviation refuelling outlet.
This he said eventually led to the unfortunate incidence and grounding of its 5N-MHM aircraft by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)
The Lawmaker said many flight accidents in history were caused by fuel contamination resulting in abnormal operation of aircraft engines and water as a major contaminant.
He added that in recent times, NCAA had been receiving series of mandatory occurrence reports from airlines and other aircraft operators with issues related to water being found in the aircraft fuel tank of the aircraft.
The House adopted the motion and constituted an ad hoc committee to investigate the incidences.
The House also urged the committee to unravel associated air travel risks and possible non-adherence to standard operating procedures and industry best practices in the aviation oil industry and report to the House in eight weeks.
TSIBIRI
