TRACKING___Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Wednesday April 1st, met with the Minister of Power, Sale Mamman and the management of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), over the viral video by Nollywood actress, Ada Ameh, in which she complained bitterly about lack of power supply in most Nigerian homes, during the ongoing lockdown in major parts of the country.
The Speaker expressed dismay over the number of calls and messages from many Nigerians through his social media account, reacting to the protest video and called for prompt action.
“It has become imperative that I urgently call for this meeting to find a solution to the poor supply of electricity during this lockdown period. If we ask people to stay at home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, at least we have to make their homes comfortable for them to stay.
In his reaction, the Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, highlighted the challenges encountered by power generating compaies (GENCOs) and the possible intervention of the leadership of the House of Representatives.
Also, the NERC Commissioner on Compliance, Mr. Akpaneye, assured the Speaker and the leadership of the House that the commission is committing the Discos to a new guideline that shows empathy with Nigerians during this COVID-19 lockdown.
“All NERC Commissioners are in the Situation Room in our office monitoring GENCOs and Discos activities. We know the demand for this power during this lockdown is for residential, since most industries are on lockdown, so we are going to release a new guideline and sanction electricity companies that can’t show empathy during this period,” he said.
With the Speaker at the meeting was the Minority Leader, Rep. Ndudi Elumelu; and Deputy Minority Whip, Rep. Adesegun Adekoya. While NERC was represented by its Commissioner on Compliance, Dafe Akpeneye, those that joined the meeting via virtual connection were Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed; Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele; and the Group Managing Director (GMD) of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Mele Kyari.
