Mohammed Oluwatimileyin Taoheed reports,
The Nigerian Senate has passed the Electricity Bill 2022 and called for increased investment and reform of the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), the Track News Nigeria learnt.
The passage of the Bill followed the consideration of a report by the Senate Committee on Power at plenary.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Gabriel Suswam (Benue North East), in his presentation, said the bill seeks to provide an ideal legal and institutional framework to leverage on the modest gains of the privatisation phase of the electricity power sector in Nigeria, among others.
According to him, the Bill would improve utilisation of generated power through increased investments in new technologies to enhance transmission and distribution of generated power in order to minimise aggregate value chain loses, when signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said the proposed law would “reinvigorate the institutional framework for the reform of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) initiated and implemented by the Federal Government.”
Suswam added that the bill when promulgated into law would wake policy and regulatory moves to increase efficient power generation, transmission and distribution capabilities of the sector and also address technological limitations and outdated infrastructure that are responsible for value chain loses.
The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, in his remarks after the passage of the bill, said, “because of its importance and sensitivity, we would like to see a quick concurrence by the House of Representatives, because time is of essence as far as Nigeria is concerned when you talk about electricity and energy supplies in Nigeria.
“So, we would like to see that this Bill is fully processed in the National Assembly and sent to the Executive side of government for assent by Mr. President.
“We believe that this piece of legislation can change the fortunes of the electricity industry in Nigeria for the better.”
Senate President Ahmad Lawan sought to know the role and operational capacity of banks that had taken over distribution companies (discos) indebted to them.
Suswam explained that the take-over of entities (Discos) by banks was duly carried out in collaboration with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE).
He said there was a transitional process put in place during the take-over of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) by the United Bank for Africa (UBA) to ensure efficiency in service delivery.
He noted that such transitional process usually involved the invitation of new investors to scale up generation and distribution capacities.
Senator Ahmad Babba-Kaita from Katsina North noted that the faulty manner in which DisCos were created was hugely responsible for their inability to live up to expectations.
Deputy Chief Whip, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (Niger North), noted the aspect of renewable energy in the bill, was given prominence amid the energy mix.
Our Corespondents say the Electricity Bill 2022 was passed by the upper chamber after a clause-by-clause scrutiny by the Committee.
