Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana has described as insensitive and wicked the proposed electricity tariff hike, therefore, urged Nigerians to reject it.
Falana who spoke on Kakaaki, a programme on African Independent Television (AIT) on Tuesday, said, the proposed 40 percent hike would only create further economic crisis if allowed to pull through.
The Human Rights Activist noted that Nigerians are yet to recover from the removal of fuel subsidy and floating exchange rate, therefore, a hike in electricity tariff would inflict untold hardship on Nigerians, especially the poor.
He said, “the government wants Nigerians to make sacrifices, whereas, no government official at the level of Federal, State and Local government is ready to make sacrifice”.
He warned the government not to take Nigerians for granted, because once they are pushed to the wall they would not wait for Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) or Trade Union Congress (TUC) to mobilise them.
Recall, Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) recently alerted their customers of the plan to increase electricity tariff by 30-40 percent from July 1, 2023.
Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKDC), Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKDC) and others announced the development in their separate press statements on Sunday, June 25, 2023.
The DisCos attributed the plan increment to fluctuating exchange rate in the country.
The statement said, “Dear Valued Customers, Effective July 1st 2023, please be informed that there will be an upward review to the electricity tariff influenced by the fluctuating exchange rate.
“Under the MYTO 2022 guidelines, the previously set exchange rate of N441/$1 may now be revised to approximately N750/$1 which will have an impact on the tariffs associated with your electricity consumption.
“For customers within band B and C, with supply hours ranging from 12 to 16 per day, the new base tariff is expected to be N100 per kWh while Bands A with (20 hours and above) and B (16 to 20 hours) will experience comparatively higher tariffs.
“For customers with a prepaid meter, we encourage you to consider purchasing bulk energy units before the end of this month as this will allow you take advantage of the current rates and potentially make savings before the new tariffs come into effect.
“For those on post-paid (estimated) billing, a significant increment is imminent in your monthly billing, starting from August”, the statement said.
