HUMAN rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has alleged that the Federal Government, through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), plans to extend electricity tariff hike beyond Band A consumers to other Nigerians categorised under other bands.
Falana, speaking on a television programme, said the recent tariff hike for Band A consumers by the government cannot be justified under the Electricity Act, 2023, threatening to approach the courts to seek redress for Nigerians.
He argued that the Federal Government had already removed electricity subsidy in 2022 and so by the new tariff hike, it was just making Nigerians pay for the inefficiency and profligacy of those managing the electricity sector.
Recall that NERC had on April 3, increased electricity tariff for customers enjoying 20 hours power supply daily and above, categorised under Band A, from N66 per kilowatt per hour to N225, an action criticised by Nigerians, considering the current hardship in the country.
Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, explained that the new tariff hike would only affect only 1.5 million of the about 12 million consumers in the country.
But Falana declared electricity subsidy as non-existent, alleging that the federal government was trying to raise funds for cash-strapped electricity distribution companies (DisCos).
He declared: “Under that law, there are certain steps to take and we are going to embark on those steps, which is to raise serious objections with respect to the impunity that has characterised the recent increase.
“At the appropriate time, if there is no response, we will have to go to court, because the government had warned, the minister had warned that the increase this time around will only fetch the government or the DisCos N1.6trillion, whereas the destination is N3trillion.
“So, the poor people that the minister is talking about, the other bands, very soon, the government is going to extend the increases to them, so that the N1.4trillion the minister is talking about will be recovered.
“They are increasing tariff to assist the cash-strapped DisCos, majority of which have now been taken over by the banks and AMCON, and the banks and AMCON have no competence to run electricity companies.”
Falana criticised the government for being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians who are still grappling with the economical impact of petrol subsidy removal and collapse of the foreign exchange windows by administration of the President Bola Tinubu administration.
