Nigeria’s electricity sub-sector is noted for giving deadlines but meeting none thereby dashing consumers’ hope.
But not tired of giving unrealistic deadlines, the National Electricity Commission (NERC) has fixed 2020 as the magic year when every Nigerian home will have prepaid meters.
The chairman of the NERC, Mr. James Momoh who stated this on Channels Television ‘Sunrise Daily’ show on Thursday assured that “with all the mechanisms we have put in place, I am certain that every Nigerian home that wishes to have prepaid meter can have it by 2020.
He said the federal government had since 2015 been working on providing Nigerians with stable and affordable electricity.
He also said the government had done tremendous things to improve “our quality of service because money is now being invested rightly to make sure power is available.”
Momoh also said the other African countries had become envious of Nigeria due to monetary investments by the federal government.
“We want to ensure that the customers have the power supply that is affordable, accessible to them and available at all times.”
He, however, called for patience from Nigerians on the delivery of the prepaid meter.
“This is not trivial, this is not easy in a growing economy like Nigeria, but we have to provide power to Nigerians,” he added.
The NERC chairman further said the responsibility of circulating power lies in the hands of distribution companies.
“The reliability and affordability of power have been paid for. Supply is done through a designed chain through the distribution company.”
Momoh assured Nigerians that the government had placed guidelines to ensure supply of quality electricity irrespective of social status.
“We at NERC enforce rules and regulations to ensure that the power you receive is of high quality and it is available to all customers whether you are rich or you are poor. We are doing all things necessary for power to be available,” Momoh said.
