Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir, MAN Director-General, said this, while reacting to the Federal Government directive to the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to suspend the recent hike in electricity tariff.
Recall that NERC had on Tuesday adjusted upward tariff review from N2.00 to N4.00 for some bands, while citing the partial impact of inflation and movement in foreign exchange rate.
Ajayi-Kadir said the three weeks respite was to accommodate the spirit of the agreement between the Labour Union and the Federal Government on the tariff increase.
“Though there is a possibility that the increase may be reconsidered during this period, there is no doubt that the National Electricity Regulatory Commission is already anticipating an increase.
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The Nigeria Labour Congress on Friday knocked the Federal Government for issuing conflicting statements on the increment in the electricity tariff.
The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission had blamed the 50 per cent tariff adjustment on inflation and movement in foreign exchange rates, but the Minister of Power, Engr Saleh Mamma, denied the increment.
However, the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, in a statement on Friday, faulted the claim credited to the minister, in which he described media reports on the increase in the cost of electricity by the regulatory agency as untrue.
The labour leader insisted that the contradictions in the minister’s statement succeeded in reinforcing the anxiety by Nigerians that “we yet again face a year where the biggest pre-occupation of government appears to be the deflection of the worst economic vicissitudes on citizens.”
Vanguard News
Electricity sector records mixed performance in 2020
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Despite the sordid tales of Nigeria’s electricity sector, 2020 upstream power sector seems to have fared better in reducing systems collapse significantly.
However, huge difficulties persists in stranded power incidences which has resulted in a steady rise in losses in the industry while ensuring the perennial issue of inadequate power supply to industries and homes throughout 2020.
The power sector recorded five total collapses in 2020, as against 11 recorded in 2019.
The year had started with two successive collapses which occurred in January, but the performance stabilized in the remaining 10 months to date with just three collapses.