The administrator of the National Energy Regulatory Commission (NERC), Alhaji Imamuddeen Talba, has said the neglect of energy sector for about 43 years resulted in the problem the country is currently facing in its electricity supply.

Talba said this during the first power consumer assembly organised by the NERC, adding that there was no investment into the sector for over 20 years before 1999.

This, he said, was the reason that only 19 out of 79 installed generation units in the country were operational by May 1999.

He, however, commended the efforts already being made to address the problem by the current administration and expressed the hope that soon, the country would witness uninterrupted power supply.

He said the driving force behind the establishment of the commission was the need to ensure efficiency and quality of service delivery to all consumers in the country.

The Niger State governor, Dr Babangida Aliyu, while speaking on the occasion, stressed the need to allow the involvement of the private sector in electricity generation.

Aliyu, speaking against the backdrop of the epileptic power supply across the country, said the only solution to the problem was to allow more involvement of the private sector in power generation and distribution.

He noted that power supply was crucial to the socio-economic and industrial development of the country, adding that once the power sector was unstable, unemployment and other social problems would be on the increase.