NERC Chairman, Momoh inaugurated

The new Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Professor James Momoh has assured of looking at the electricity tariff with a view to computing and tackling issues around it.

Momoh said this in Abuja yesterday shortly after he was inaugurated by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.

Responding to his plans about tackling the issues about inadequate electricity tariff for the power sector, he said: “The tariff is just an example, it is not a challenge that you cannot solve, it happened, you learnt something about it last week, so you don’t have to re-learn the same lesson today. We should be able to ask questions to avoid the problem.

“We have no choice, we have to look at what computes a tariff, tariff is not a guess work, there is a calculation you do to get there, so that is an idea,” Momoh assured.

He also noted that his administration will bring to the industry the best practices to ensure that there is quality electricity supply and reliable power. “What we bring to the sector is also ensuring that there is innovation in the industry because if we remain static, and not solve real problems, we will just be doing fire-brigade.”

Fashola at the inauguration lauded Momoh for volunteering to serve Nigeria saying, “He is one of those Nigerians that instead of pointing fingers at what is wrong, has come home to fix what is wrong.”

The Daily Trust reports that Prof. Momoh has 30 years’ experience in electric power systems and has been based in the United States where he teaches electrical and power system engineering at Harvard University.

The Senate confirmed his appointment a fortnight ago after many months of waiting. His appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari as NERC Chairman is with effect from April 25, 2018 and is expected to be for a five year term.

The six other commissioners of NERC were inaugurated by the Minister in February 2017 but the Commission had operated without a Chairman as the Vice Chairman, Sanusi Garba held brief for over 14 months.