The Senate on Tuesday asked the Federal Government to subsidise electricity in a bid to reduce the burden of the proposed tariff hike on Nigerians.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Gabriel Suswam, made the call while briefing journalists in Abuja.
The leadership of the National Assembly met with chief executives of the electricity distribution companies (DisCos) on Monday and succeeded in persuading the firms to suspend the planned implementation of the tariff hike till next year.
READ ALSO: NASS, DisCos agree to halt tariff hike
Suswam said: “Nowhere in the world that power is not subsidised especially in developing economies because there are genuine people, who, because of their income, are unable to pay what is called cost-reflective tariff.
“Nigerians are heavily burden because of COVID-19. The economy has contracted by 3.2 percent, that’s a lot.
“So it makes it difficult for you and me to attend to some of our social problems, would the government prefer to add burden or lessen it?
“The president has been doing well. He has spent so much money, and what we expect is that the spending will gradually reduce or diminish as the power sector becomes more efficient.”
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