Mild drama ensued on Monday when power supply was suddenly interrupted as Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, addressed the National Assembly.
Adelabu was answering questions from senators during an investigative hearing on “the need to halt the increase in the price of electricity” organized by the Senate Committee on Power.
Fortunately, power was quickly restored.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Eyinnaya Abaribe, commented on the power outage, suggesting that the minister’s remarks on stable electricity in the country were questionable.
“You see what just happened. This is what we all experience. We the Senators experience it too and I am sure even the President does experience it at the Villa, just that he cannot speak out like we are,” he said.
It is important to note that the Federal Government, through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), approved a significant 340% increase in electricity tariff for customers classified under Band A on April 3rd.
The Vice Chairman of NERC, Musliu Oseni, stated that customers in Band A will now have to pay N225 per kilowatt per hour, up from the current rate of N66.
Band A customers are those who receive 20 hours of electricity supply.
