The Senate, last Wednesday, rejected the Federal Government’s plan to increase electricity tariff through the removal of electricity subsidy. The Red Chamber also resolved to conduct a proper investigation into the factors behind the call for the removal of subsidy on electricity. The resolution was a sequel to a motion sponsored by Aminu Abass (PDP, Adamawa Central) during the plenary. Abass said: “In a country where the greater number of the population live below the poverty level, with stagnant wages, rising inflation and depreciating currency, the prospect of higher electricity bill is unattainable.” The lawmakers were reacting to the position of the Minister of Power, Bayo Adelabu, who, at a press briefing on Thursday, February 15, had indicated that the Federal Government was set to remove subsidy on electricity supply. According to the minister, the government could not continue to subsidise electricity because of the huge debts it had incurred in the sector. His words: “Today, we owe a total of N1.3 trillion to the power generating companies, out of which 60 percent is being owed to gas suppliers. Today, we owe a legacy debt. Prior to 2014, we owed the gas companies $1.3bn. At today’s rate, that is close to N2trn. Now, if you add the N2 trillion legacy debt owed gas companies and the N1.3 trillion owed the GenCos, we have an inherited debt of over N3 trillion in this sector. How will the sector move forward? Nigerians deserve the right to know this.”

In their separate contributions, however, the senators rejected the plan on the grounds that it would lead to a tariff increase. They endorsed the view by Senator Abass that the removal of subsidy on electricity would increase electricity tariff and make the payment of electricity bills unbearable for Nigerians. This position is, in our view, unassailable. It is unthinkable that amidst the privations into which Nigerians have been thrown following the extremely harsh policies of the government, the government is thinking of yet another measure that will further compound their misery. It is certainly instructive that the minister spoke about removing subsidy on electricity following the declaration by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Nigeria must do away with subsidies in the power and petroleum sectors.

The government must perish the thought of a new electricity tariff regime. With inflation at over 29 percent and food inflation above 35 percent, Nigerians are finding it extremely difficult to feed, and any attempt to further worsen their palpably adverse economic conditions can only breed chaos. Besides, the idea of criminalising the thought of subsidy for poor, struggling Nigerians while failing to curb the corruption and leakages within the system is reprehensible. How can the government be talking about subsidy as if it is a byword? The privatisation of the power sector was undertaken with massive corruption and continues to be operated on the same basis. The distribution companies (DisCos) failed to invest in the replacement of old distribution cables, electricity poles, transformers and electricity meters and the regulatory agencies kept mute, behaving as if nothing was amiss.

For a long time now, Nigerians have been consistently exploited through estimated billing and other charges. Indeed, the minister himself spoke of the absurdity in communities buying and installing transformers, yet being told that the transformers do not belong to them, and being fleeced with charges for power not supplied. It is a fact that when Nigerians hear of the Ministry of Power, what comes to their mind is the palpable darkness in which they have been engulfed for ages and the sad story of the collapsing national grid. Nigerians have for years been paying for services not rendered. The prevailing socioeconomic climate is frustrating for most Nigerians. The government should not take the people’s patience for foolishness; people can only take so much.

It seems that the government does not really understand the depth and level of immiseration in the country going by its announced plan to remove what it calls subsidy on electricity. Pray, who are those expected to pay more for electricity with the removal of the so-called subsidy? Is it not the same Nigerians who are tossed into extreme poverty by the day? Nigerians are dying of hunger every day, and the only response from the government is how to milk them further through higher electricity tarriff? We hope that those in government recognise that the people must be kept alive for them to even have a country to preside over. They should not continue to carry on as if their objective is continuous pauperisation, if not death, of the people. The government should immediately heed the wise counsel of the National Assembly, rescind the attempt to increase electricity tariff, and save the masses further suffering. What Nigerians want and deserve now are governmental acts to ameliorate their current despicable situation and not to add to their suffering by raising electricity tariff. The government should refrain from squeezing Nigerians to death.

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