*Says it will frustrate businesses, ask Tinubu to compel Ministry of Power to reverse l hike
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
The Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and political organization, Afenifere at the weekend rejected the over 200 per cent electricity tariff increase in the country as announced by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on Wednesday, April 4, 2024,
Afenifere in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary Comrade Jare Ajayi on Saturday, said the electricity tariff increase will thwart the President Tinubu led administration’s effort at boosting the economy as businesses will shrink.
In the statement, Afenifere maintained that businesses cannot flourish when the amount to be paid per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity jumped from N68 to N225 just within 24 hours of its announcement.
Emphasizing that, “the sing-song virtually everywhere now is the poor supply of electricity and low quality of the commodity sometimes”, Afenifere stressed “If the relevant government agencies are to be sincere with Nigerians, what they should do is to first ensure regular and efficient supply of electricity before acceding to increase in payment for services that are being poorly rendered.
” If the relevant government agencies are to be sincere with Nigerians, what they should do is to first ensure regular and efficient supply of electricity before acceding to increase in payment for services that are being poorly rendered”, it said.
Afenifere added, “A rough calculation indicated that a person on Band A who was paying an average of N50,000 per month (on N68 per kWh) would now have to pay N170,000 for the same service.
” It is noteworthy that the Ministry and its agency, the NERC, are interested in the revenue that would be generated rather than first ensuring regular and efficient supply. This is in contradition to the claim that the government agencies care about the pains of Nigerians”.
Afenifere stressed further, “It is clear that rather than exploring ways to reduce the cost of producing energy thus reducing the pains of Nigerians, the relevant government agencies are passing the price of their own inefficiency on the people”, saying, ” For instance, increase in the cost of gas was used as the reason for the hike in electricity tariff.
“Yet, it is clear that even the present cost of producing gas, and by implication electricity, can be made more efficient. In other words, both the price of gas as well as electricity would be far lower than what they are presently if the agencies concerned had gone into research and/or take advantage of available information on cost-efficient production of energies’
Afenifere then asked President Bola Tinubu to compel the Ministry of Power, to reverse the present hike, go into alternative energy sources like solar and wind, review the terms with which the 2013 exercise was carried out and be more innovative.
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