Atiku Faults Electricity Tariff Hike, Says It’ll Create More Difficulties for Nigerians

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has faulted the recent electricity tariff hike, saying that the government, as usual,  has unleashed another dose of reforms without adequate notice and a post-reform plan to mitigate the pain.

Recall that the federal government, on Wednesday, approved an increase in electricity tariff targeting Band A electricity consumers in the country.

Band A electricity consumers utilise at least 20 hours of electricity supply daily.

According to the announcement by Musliu Oseni, the Vice Chair of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), during a press conference in Abuja, the increase will demand the Band A customers, who represent 15 per cent of the country’s 12 million electricity customers, to pay N225 kilowatt per hour from the current N66.

Reacting to this, Atiku in an X post on Friday said that the increase in electricity tariff came at a time when the government has not successfully dealt with the pains associated with the withdrawal of fuel subsidy and floating of the naira, as Nigerian citizens still experience excruciating difficulties occasioned by those reforms.

He stated that the hike in electricity tariff would create more difficulties for the citizens due to elevated inflationary pressures.

He also argued that not only would this reform affect the citizens, but would also impact negatively on the manufacturing sector.

In his words:

“As usual, the government is unleashing another dose of reforms without adequate notice and without an adequate post-reform plan to mitigate the pain.

“The increase in electricity tariff comes at a time when Nigerian citizens are going through excruciating difficulties occasioned by the withdrawal of subsidy on PMS and floating of the domestic currency.

“The government has not successfully dealt with the pains associated with the implementation of those measures, and now this. The hike in electricity tariff will create more difficulties for the citizens as inflationary pressures are elevated.

“Our manufacturing sector will similarly be impacted negatively. Not only are they paying higher interest rates on their bank loans but also paying more for diesel, paying higher wages as a result of the new minimum wage.

“The President’s men are pushing the economy into a deeper crisis. His reforms are without a human face,” he said.

He said it was important that the government understood the root cause of the inefficiencies in the power sector before unleashing another dose of reforms, stating that it was time to revisit the privatisation exercise that brought about the DISCOs.

He further stated that Tinubu must ensure that these reforms are sequenced, implement measures to mitigate the pain caused by the reform and hold the NERC responsible for ensuring improved service delivery.

Read: Microsoft Projects $1.2 Trillion Boost to Africa’s Economy Through AI by 2030

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