MAN, South East Electricity Stakeholders Meet In Awka To Chart New Course On Regulation, Bill Transparency
Many companies in South-East Nigeria are shutting down, while those still operating are functioning below thirty per cent of their installed capacity.
These worrying statistics, according to the Chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi States Chapter, Dr Ada Chukwudozie, are driven by high electricity and energy costs, as well as little or no access to funds.
Dr Chukwudozie explained that the challenges facing manufacturers in the region and the need to solve them inspired the initiation of the MAN South-East Stakeholders’ Industry Conversation on electricity regulation, billing transparency, and industrial productivity.
She emphasized the critical role of the manufacturing sector in the economy and insisted that for change to happen, there must be clarity, transparency, and accountability regarding expected supply hours, actual services rendered, and remedies and protections available where supply consistently falls below expected thresholds.
In his intervention at the roundtable meeting, which attracted manufacturers, key stakeholders, and regulators in the region, Governor Chukwuma Soludo, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mrs Chiamaka Nnake, said the state government is committed to providing an enabling environment for investors to maximize the electricity market and is ready for partnerships that will create quick fixes for power supply in the state.
Earlier, in a keynote address, the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr Sam Amadi, asked state governments in the region to, as a matter of policy, deliberately push power supply to industrial clusters, give industries costs that will incentivize them to invest more and expand, and find sustainable ways of subsidizing electricity costs for industries with necessary control and monitoring.
