Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), has appealed to Nigerians to bear the pains of the new electricity tariff hike, describing it as painful pill they must swallow in the interest of the country.
“I understand that people who have been disappointed over a long time will feel the sense of concern that again tariff has gone up. But the truth is that this tariff ought to have been there from day one, and I don’t know why government of yesterday was not courageous enough to tell us this was the tariff.
“This is why you have this MYTO (Multi-Year-Tariff-Order) every two years. So they (past governments) have given the impression that the price of power will increase every two years. What we have done now with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is to give a 10-year tariff. In that tariff, about two years from now, it will begin to go down. Whatever price the tariff offers now, is a lot cheaper than diesel, inverter and petrol generation.
“My relations also asked me, Minister, what is this? So I’m not exempted. It is a painful pill that I must appeal that Nigerians swallow. It is like quinine and malaria. It is painful, not sweet, and I know that, but I chose it because we are not left with many choices. This is the first major decision in power that this administration is taking. Another problem is transmission, and we are fixing it.”
Fashola stated that people are not interested in investing in gas, adding that are just beginning to show interest.
“So even if you have all the power plants, where is the fuel? So it will get better, and I can only appeal for some understanding that we do this in the best interest of our country.
“We have to improve certain deliveries and that is why we have these meetings with the DISCOs. They have to roll out meters, install lines and transformers, among others,” the minister said.
