Deputy National Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Honourable Nze Chidi Duru, has raised alarm over the hike in power tariffs by electricity providers in the country.
Addressing journalists on Tuesday in Abuja, Duru, who is a member of the APC National Working Committee, said the policy carries unintended consequences for the Federal Government and the ruling party.
The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), had approved an increase of 340% in the electricity tariff for customers under the Band A classification.
According to the NERC’s Vice Chairman, Musliu Oseni, Band A, customers will begin to pay N225 kilowatt per hour from the current N66.
Appraising the performance of the electricity providers, he maintained that their failure to improve their services in the past 15 years indicates their unworthiness and continued exploitation of Nigerians.
He declared that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must show more than passing interest in the review of concessions granted to the Electricity Distribution ( Discos) and Generating Companies( Discos)
He said, “Of course, it has come to that. If they look at the terms of the contract the government signed with the operators, and if there is sufficient reason, the government should take over the agencies, DisCo and GenCo. It should, because none of them have delivered on the duties imposed on that contract.
“Otherwise, why is it that Nigerians are still buying their transformers and cables, providing electricity for themselves, still generating power through other sources, and still consuming diesel at inappropriate levels?
“Those selling generators are selling more than before and the volume of kilowatts of power available in the country continued to hover around 2000 to 6000 and never go beyond that. Was that not a reflection that there is not enough investment in that industry and a reflection that those operators don’t understand the business?
“It is an indication that what they are there to do is impose hardship on the average Nigerian and there are sufficient grounds to do that.
“It is a pity that this is happening at a time when the government is working very hard to tackle inflation and provide basic amenities to Nigerians, yet an agency of government can impose such inordinate charges and bills without base and background on the people of this country.
“They did it without the requisite checks and balances of what is needed to be done in the first place. It doesn’t work on the sense of logic that this should even happen in the first place.”
The APC National Organising Secretary also accused the regulatory agency, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) of indifference to the incompetence of the companies granted concessions in the strategic sector.
“It was sold to people with little or no experience; our national patrimony was handed over to them and rather than invest in the sector, they rather see the sector as an avenue not only to make money but also to undermine the country and citizens of Nigeria. This incessant increase in tariffs will continue ad infinitum if nothing is done to ensure that these people are brought to account for what needs to be done.
“Over 15 years after the concession, we have not seen any improvement. If you compare it with what is happening in the telecommunications industry, where the government deliberately made an effort to bring in people who understood the sector, the government made money, but only those who are professionals were brought in to operate the various licences.
“At the initial stage, the National Communications Commission, under the leadership of Ndukwe, could see the roadmap that it may be expensive in the beginning, like buying a SIM Card, but once they attain a critical mass, the cost will go down. And even before the timeline was set, we saw it begin to go down immediately.
“You remember that at a time we were buying SIM for N35,000 or more, but suddenly it became free because the necessary investment was done in that sector, as opposed to what is currently happening in the power sectors, where the government has continued to subsidise, including borrowing money with the intervention of CBN, running into N3 trillion.
“In a privatised industry, cost-reflectivity is not banded on areas of residents or where you do your business. How much power you use should not be based on where you are residing.
“If, for example, I have my factory in Lugbe, Abuja, and I produce 500 billion products, then I will be under Band C. But if I am unfortunate to have my factory in Asokoro or Maitama, then I will be charged N255 because of the geographical location yet I am producing less.
“It has never happened anywhere in the world. It is only a certification around residential, commercial and manufacturing to ensure that those who use electricity more are made to pay for what they consume,” he noted.
Duru further argued: “Even without conceding that this could have happened, there must be a transition that will encourage and engender the confidence of people in this country that power is being provided to them 20 hours in a day that never happened.
“So people are paying for blackouts and inefficiency only because they have been banded in a given area. Go to Asokoro and find out if they get a power supply for 20 hours a day. Yet they are charged an ineffective cost of N255, and we have a regulator who, instead of demanding efficiency on the part of the industry, is colluding with them.
“This has unintended consequences for the government and for the party. People are groaning on account of difficulties, and I call on the regulators to go to NCC and learn what they have been able to do. This is one policy that must not stand,” he cautioned.
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