Abuja, May 15, 2024 – Adebayo Adelabu, the Minister of Power, says reversal of electricity tariff will derail reform agenda of the federal government.
The federal government, had on April 1, approved a new tariff regime for Band A consumers with a hike from N68 per kilowatt/hour to N225 kilowatt/hour. It was later reduced to N206 kilowatt/hour.
Nigerians are protesting the electricity tariff hike with the organized labour picketed offices of the NERC and the Discos on Monday.
Adelabu, however, told journalists on Tuesday after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) that the tariff hike was necessary to enable government overhaul the power sector and improve electricity supply across the country.
“I don’t want us to go back to the situation we were in February and March when we had very low generation.
“We all felt the impact of this whereby the electricity supply was very low and every household, every company, and every institution, felt it.
“From the little reform that we’ve embarked upon since the beginning of April, we have seen the impact that electricity has improved and it can only get better.
“My appeal is that they should please not derail or distract our transformation plan for the industry.
“We have a documented reform roadmap to take us to our desired destination, where we’re going to have reliable, functional, cost-effective and affordable electricity in Nigeria.
“It cannot be achieved overnight because this is a decay of almost 60 years, which we are trying to correct.
“Nobody promised us or assured us that the road will be smooth. We knew it was going to be rough, but we must weather the storm, which is going to be temporary.
“It requires a lot of sacrifice from everybody; from the government’s side, from the people’s side, from the private sector side. So, we must bear this sacrifice for us to have a permanent gain.
“We have heard the demands; we’re going to look at them. We’ll make further engagements and I believe we’re going to reach a peaceful resolution with the Labour because no government can succeed without the cooperation, collaboration and partnership of labour unions.
“So, we welcome the peaceful protest and I’m happy that it was not a violent protest. They’ve made their positions known and the government has taken in their demands and we’re looking at them.
“But one thing that I want to state here is from the statistics of those affected by the hike in tariff, the people on the road yesterday (Monday), who embarked on the peaceful protests, more than 95 per cent of them are not affected by the increase in the tariff of electricity.
“They still enjoy almost 70 per cent government subsidy in the tariff they pay because the average cost of generating, transmitting and distributing electricity is
“A lot of them are paying below N60 so they still enjoy the government’s subsidy.
“So, when they say we should reverse the recently increased tariff, sincerely it’s not affecting them,” the minister said.
He appealed to labour and the entire populace to be patient with the administration as it implements its power sector plan for efficiency. (GBN)
