House of Representatives on Wednesday directed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to halt the payment of N2.7 billion to its board members.
Following the recent agitation that trailed the huge sums of money to be paid, the House mandated its Committee on Power to investigate the approval of the payment of N2.7 billion as severance package.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion on urgent public importance sponsored by Mohammed Gololo, who argued that the approval was unconstitutional, as it was not authorised by the National Assembly in the 2015 Appropriation Act.
He said the payment of the severance package contravened the recommendations of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission and Section 42(1a, b) of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act.
Gololo, who noted that the commission had no recurrent expenditure in the 2015 Appropriation Act signed into law by the former president, Goodluck Jonathan, however urged the House to ensure that the commission did not pay any salaries to its board and staff.
The lawmaker, who stressed the need to be compliance with provisions of the 1999 Constitution that mandated all MDAs to remit all incomes into the Consolidation Revenue Fund, noted that the Commission had no statutory power to pay salaries from funds that had not been paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation.
In a related development, the House has commenced investigation into the billing system and infrastructure of the Electricity Distribution Company (Discos).
The ad-hoc committee headed by Babajimi Adegoke has invited the Bureau of Public enterprise (BPE) to review the commercial terms of the privatised Discos as well as NERC.
According to House resolution, the ad-hoc committee is to find out the methodology used in verifying investment claimed by Discos, the billing process, evidence/proof that NERC is performing its functions appropriately and in the interest of Nigeria customers, evidence of consumer satisfaction, challenges and problems faced by NERC in carrying out its functions and justification for the proposed tariff increase.
The House also directed NERC to suspend the implementation of any increase in electricity tariff until the committee concludes its investigation.
The ad hoc committee is to get the detailed graphical representation of the Discos organisation’s share of the power supply and distribution market, metering, detailed explanation of consumer reaction and action on their service, billing scheme and detailed information on investment in infrastructure.
The Discos are also expected to brief the committee on plans on recovery of investment, detailed of consumer indebtedness, outstanding credits due to consumers, problems and prospects in the industry, and any other information they deem relevant to assist the committee in its assignment.
