The Bola Tinubu administration is set to increase the electricity tariff by 300 percent to reduce government spending since it can allegedly no longer afford the huge amount it pays to subsidise electricity annually.
A report by Bloomberg on Tuesday disclosed that electricity companies in Nigeria will soon have the government’s say-so to hike tariffs from N68 per kilowatt-hour to N200 per kilowatt-hour for urban consumers in April.
Urban consumers occupy about 15 percent of the population and consume 40 percent of the nation’s energy, the report said.
The report was based on conversations with multiple government officials who were not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.
Reacting to the news, Nigerians lamented that the increase in electricity tariff would worsen the economic hardship bedevilling Nigerians at the moment.
Lamenting that the hike in electricity tariff would impoverish Nigerians, Ejiofor Churchil states, “The government cannot provide electricity, and even the epileptic supply they were able to provide is now overtaxed to subject Nigerians to more hardship.”
In his reaction, Ojunugwame Festus alleged that the “government is getting richer at the expense of the masses.”
He berated the “overtaxation” of the masses by the federal government.
“Overtaxation everywhere; they shared more than 2 trillion naira in one month and refused to adjust the fuel price, while the effects of the initial strategy have gotten the price of commodities very high,” he added.
For Williams Idopise, he says, “That was the lie they told before increasing it to N68, but nowhere got light up to 7 hours a day; now they want to increase it to N200 with the same lie, and they are claiming to be paying subsidy.”
Maaji Idris lamented that the poor masses will be the ones to bear the burden if the planned increase in electricity tariffs goes through.
“The last government has improved light to at least 20 hours a day across the country and in many places 24/7. It is now a privilege to enjoy 20 hours of light a day for <5% of the population. Whoa!
“In the case of businesses, schools, hospitals, stores, etc., the cost will be passed on to consumers,” Idris stated.
Describing the All Progressive Government-led federal government as “a terrible government,” Gbadamosi Wole laments that the economic strategies of the APC-led administration are overburdening Nigerians.
Wole stated that “APC is just a terrible government! The last good government we had was under the late President Umar Yar’Adua.”
