It is unthinkable that at a time about 92 million Nigerians do not have access to electricity, the federal government has the temerity to increase electricity tariff by 240 percent. This is happening in a country where over 133 million Nigerians are multi-dimensionally poor. Forget the explanation by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) that the hike will only affect customers on 20-hour power supply. Once a policy is in place in this part of the world, it will apply to all. Who are those Nigerians that enjoy 20-hour electricity supply? I don’t know them or where they reside.
This is a euphemism to hike electricity tariff. NERC has been moving back and forth over this for months and not knowing when to strike. The NERC will lack the ability to discriminate between those who have power supply for 20 hours and those of us who are victims of the electricity utility’s perpetual epileptic and erratic power supply for years. Despite billions of naira and dollars injected into the power sector since 1999, the ugly narrative has been intensified with much vigour. It is no longer news that in Nigeria, the masses pay for darkness. They pay for power not supplied.
Unfortunately, the privatization of the power sector has meant more suffering and darkness for millions of Nigerians including the over 91 million who are without electricity. Millions of Nigerians are also without adequate water supply. This government has overtly demonstrated that it is very insensitive to the plight of Nigerians since May 29 when it hastily removed fuel subsidy without our input and without providing the needed succor. This government is indirectly acting the World Bank and IMF script on the economy.
Hiking the tariff on electricity is another way of removing the subsidy on electricity, which the World Bank has advised. It must be reminded that that those bitter pills from Breton Woods’ institutions have never worked for any developing or the so-called third world countries. I doubt that they will work for us now that the economy is down. Assuming that those bitter pills had worked for any country, they will not work for us because of our peculiar circumstances. It is baffling that this government is more interested in increasing the pains of Nigerians. That should not be the reason for the existence of government. Government exists for the welfare of the citizens. Increasing their pains is never part of the objectives of any government worth the name. The bitter pills the government forced down our throats through the removal of fuel subsidy are still choking us. Now it has added hike in electricity tariff. This is a killer pill. I don’t know how Nigerians will cope with this state-imposed hardship. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should stop making Buhari a great hero with the consistent anti-people policies of this administration.
While the masses are being subjected to undue taxation, the political office holders and their friends are living in opulence. The belt-tightening is never for everyone. We are still living in George Orwell’s allegorical Animal Farm where all animals are equal but some are more equal than others. It is a wrong Easter gift the government will give to Nigerians after raising our hopes for a better Nigeria during the celebration of the event. We had expected a new vision of leadership, a more humane and caring leadership in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ, unarguably the greatest leader ever lived.
The unbridled inflicting of pains on the masses by this administration is not how to deliver the dividends of democracy. We don’t need these whips and scorpions from our leader. We need milk and honey and not thorns and whips. The government and NERC should immediately rescind this hike. It is needless. It is also uncalled for. It is not going to improve electricity supply in the country. It cannot stop the frequent collapse of the national grid or epileptic power supply. Having the new tariff in place will increase our energy poverty and stifle development of the country.
The Tinubu administration got it wrong with the electricity hike. Why the hike in electricity tariff when Nigerians are daily bemoaning lack of stable power supply? Why must the government increase electricity tariff when Nigerians are literally paying for darkness due to epileptic and erratic power supply? No doubt, this government is taking notes from the World Bank and IMF on removal of subsidy on fuel and energy.
It is paradoxical that when governments the world over are subsidizing food, fuel, power and others, the World Bank is busy advising our government to deny us the subsidy on fuel and electricity. The World Bank does not want us to enjoy the only subsidy many Nigerian governments had given us.
The hike in electricity tariff will lead to closure of many small and even big businesses. It will also lead to job losses and increase in crimes. It will definitely increase the number of Nigeria’s out-of-school children put at over 20 million. Nigerians works may down tools on account of the insensitive hike in electricity tariff. Other Nigerians will give them adequate support. Who will the government blame if labour embarks on a nationwide strike over hike in electricity tariff?
Therefore, let the NERC, GENCOS and DISCOS think of how to ensure that Nigerians enjoy stable and efficient electricity and not rushing to increase tariff. The power sector is bedeviled with many problems of which the hike in tariff is about the least. Let all those in charge of the power sector prioritize offering good services. Metering is a big problem in the power sector.
The slow pace of metering is hampering efficient use of energy. With the new hike on electricity, consumer will expect more crazy bills. The situation in the power sector is going to be chaotic and riotous in the days ahead if the government does not rescind its decision to hike the electricity tariff. Let NERC and other stakeholders in the power sector first address the inadequacies of poor power generation and supply before ever thinking of a tariff hike. NERC and power companies must ensure massive supply of meters to consumers. This culture of estimated billings and other corrupt channels through which power companies shortchange the consumers must be plugged forthwith.
The deliberate delay in rolling out meters for consumers’ years after they applied for them is untidy and unacceptable. The power companies have been exploiting consumers in repairing transformers and other equipment where the consumers bear the cost. The workers in these companies are exploiting the ignorance of the consumers in this regard. These are issues NERC should be more concerned with. The GENCOS and DISCOS should replace their aging and obsolete equipment across the country.
To reduce the frequent resort to hike in electricity tariff, government should invest so much money on renewable energy, especially solar energy. Apart from being clean energy, it is efficient and cost effective. It can be readily used to electrify the rural areas. Good enough, we have adequate supply of sunshine all the year round. Solar power is the way to go. It will help us bridge the energy gap and reduce the rising energy poverty.