FG Mulls Special Tribunal To Try Electricity Thieves

The federal government says plan is ongoing to establish a special tribunal to try those who illegally use electricity in the country.

The tribunal will also be empowered to speedily dealt with other power-related offences, such as, power infrastructure vandalism, amongst others.

Aliyu Tahir, the Managing Director, Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency, NEMSA, made this known on Thursday in Abuja while speaking to journalists.

Many Nigerians are believed to be stealing electricity for use in their homes and offices by by-passing metres provided by electricity distribution companies, Discos.

According to checks, many users of electricity in the country don’t even have metres, making it difficult for electricity companies to generate enough funds to invest in critical infrastructure to develop the sector.

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu recently lamented that the dearth of revenue by power firms in the country could lead to total collapse of the sector.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, claimed that 609,585 electricity consumers were metered by the end of last year, while the number of unmetered registered power users nationwide stood at 7,319,846.

Speaking yesterday on how the federal government intended to tackle the problem of electricity theft and other problems facing the power sector, Tahir said a tribunal with the power to prosecute offenders of these offences would soon be set up.

He said the agency is currently interacting with the National Assembly to amend the Electricity Act to accommodate the tribunal.

Tahir said, “We are looking at the establishment of this electricity tribunal to be able to enforce our mandates more. When you look at the enforcement, concerning sanctioning of violators in the Act, it is a very long process.

“So to fast-track the prosecution of offenders, the establishment of this tribunal solely for the power sector will go a long way in ensuring that we fast-track the process, carry out enforcements and sanction violators.

“The establishment of this tribunal has been brought to the knowledge of the legislature and we’ve made submissions to them. We hope that they will amend the Electricity Act to include a provision for this.”