The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday, rejected the plan by the Ministry of Power to increase electricity tariff in the country.
The Senate also warned against any form of subsidy removal on electricity by the Executive arm saying it would be counterproductive to remove subsidy on electricity given the current hardship facing Nigerians .
The rejection followed the consideration and approval of a motion sponsored by Senator Aminu Abbas (PDP, Adamawa Central).
The lawmaker had, during plenary, moved a motion on the need to retain the subsidy on electricity in the country for the foreseeable future.
The development comes a week after the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu,disclosed at a press conference in Abuja that Nigeria was not likely to sustain the current electricity subsidy.
Adelabu had explained that the indebtedness of the country’s power sector to electricity-generating companies (GenCos) and gas companies (GasCos) had risen to over N3 trillion
“Today, we owe a total of N1.3tn to the power generating companies, out of which 60 per cent is owed to gas suppliers. Today, we have a legacy debt, before 2014, to the gas companies of $1.3bn; at today’s rate, that is close to N2 trillion.” He had said.
