The 36 State governors, under the aegis of Governors Forum have said that they are in full support of the new electricity tariff regime and the on-going power reform programme of the federal government.
The Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi who spoke on behalf of the governors yesterday in Lagos at a Town Hall meeting organized by the Federal Ministry of Power said that the planned increase of electricity tarrif is the only way the power sector can attract private sector investors. ‘Government has no business generating power as well as distributing and transmitting power as this has not yielded result in time past’ he said.
Obi explained that the governors are not happy with the way the federal government deduct their money at source in the name of investing it into the power sector which at the end the power sector has nothing to show for the quantum money that have gone into the sector.
‘In fact, the South East governors have vowed not to have anything to do with the power sector until it is privatized and handed over to the private sector’ he said.
The governor of Niger State who was the Chairman of the Town Hall meeting lamented and how his state had suffered the pains of the epileptic power supply in spite of the fact that they are host to the major power plants in the country.
He maintained that the 36 state governors rose from a meeting and agreed to support the new tarrif regime after due consultations and discussion with NERC, the agency responsible for the review of electricity tarrif.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji at the meeting said that after due consultations with major stakeholders the support the ministry and NERC have received so far indicate that the government was on the right track.