The Niger House of Assembly has urged the Federal Government to revisit the sale and privatisation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
The House which passed a resolution to this effect on Monday at its plenary, asked the federal government to take it over and resell it to the state government.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the resolution followed a motion by Mr. Malik Bosso, representing Bosso Constituency, under matters of urgent public importance.
The power sector was privatised by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Bosso said the move had become necessary in view of what he called the negligence and the carelessness of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).
According to him, lives and property had been lost to fire or electrocution caused by high voltage in the state in recent times.
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“A month ago due to high voltage electricity by AEDC at Randan Ruwa and its environs, many houses were burnt and property worth millions of naira were lost.
“Another incident occurred last Saturday at Anguwar Biri and this time, three lives were lost, houses burnt.
“All these occurrences are as a result of negligence of AEDC in providing the required quality services to the consumers. Almost all the transformers in many areas are old and obsolete.
“The present government of APC which is for change should be concerned and note that these people have no technical capacity to run this sector and therefore, there is need to review the privatisation in line with the expectations of Nigerians,” he said.
Also contributing, Mr. Abdullahi Mamagi, representing Gbako, decried high electricity tariff slammed on consumers without commensurate electricity supply.
The members also resolved that AEDC should be made to pay compensation to the relatives of the deceased and property lost.
The Speaker, Alhaji Ahmed Marafa, who also recalled a similar incident over the weekend in his constituency of Chanchaga, where lives were lost, directed the clerk to communicate the resolution to the Executive arm of government.
