Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Electricity Consumers Protection Advocacy Group, National Coordinator, Nigeria, Mr Princewill Okorie, on Wednesday, made a call for electricity protection policy for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.
Okorie, who is also the National President, Association for Public Policy Analysis (APPA), revealed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to Okorie, the group created a document on the policy and submitted it to the Federal Ministry of Power, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), and other governmental organizations.
He claims that the group anticipates that these organizations would form a committee to review the document and provide recommendations.
Saying: “What prompted us to put the document in place is that MSMEs are contributing to social development of the country. The survey we carried out shows most of these people are not making enough profit.
“We found out that they are not making enough profit due to the high cost of diesel and fuel as well as estimate billing.”
Okorie also said that corrupt practices in the electricity sector affecting MSMEs adding that unfortunately they do not even know the stated provisions meant for their protection in the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSR), 2005.
“Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) that are supposed to explain their mode of service delivery to them are not doing that.
“And the local government councils where these MSMEs pay revenue and levies don’t know if they are making profit or looking at how electricity is affecting them.
”That is why we are educating them to know their right and ensure that a policy is put in place,” he said.
(NAN)
