By James Emejo
The President of Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Al-Mujtaba Abubakar has called for closer working relationship among power sector stakeholders to address the many challenges of the sector.
Abubakar, had during an advocacy visit to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission(NERC), noted that lack of cooperation among stakeholders was affecting programme implementation especially with respect to the national mass metering programme.
He called on the commission to redouble efforts towards reaching out to electricity consumers, pointing out the urgent need to deepen trust between the public and the commission.
While presenting the report of ACCI Webinar on mass metering programme, Abubakar lauded the great job the commission is doing in the regulatory sector but called for more communication with public and other stakeholders.
In a statement issued by
Media/Strategy Officer, ACCI, Mrs. Olayemi John-Mensah, the ACCI president said: “As a business association, we note the difficult task of creating a balance between rights of consumers and the rights of power firms. We know your challenges but the public is like Oliver twist.
“We must not relent in our outreach to the public while also holding the power firms accountable”.
Responding, however, the Chairman of NERC, Mr. Sanusi Garuba, noted the recommendations contained in the webinar report and pledged that the commission would study it for action.
He said ACCI had acted well by taking keen interest in public policy issues and also commended the chamber for the hosting of the webinars as an invaluable contribution and support for national governance.
Garuba further assured the ACCI that the commission was aware of the feelings of Nigerians about happenings in the power sector, explaining that NERC is already expanding the scope for its regulatory activities to attend to the needs of the public and stakeholders.
He said: “We were in Lagos recently and we hosted stakeholders to resolve issues. More of such forums are upcoming.”
He expressed the willingness of the commission to partner the ACCI in its regulatory activities while also assuring the public of NERC’s sacred statutory mandate.
