Skip to main content

Electricity tariff hike: NGO urges caution

I-WIN, an NGO, has called on electricity stakeholders in the country to adopt dialogue to resolve the recent contentious electricity tariff hike.

Mr Agbonna Onwumere, the spokesperson of the NGO, made the appeal in a statement on Friday in Abuja.

Onwumere was reacting to the Lagos Federal High Court judgment nullifying the increase on the electricity tariff increase announced by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) from Feb. 1.

The court on Wednesday described NERC’s decision to hike electricity tariff as “irrational, irregular and illegal”.

The court, therefore, directed the reversal of the electricity tariff and restrained the regulatory body from further tariff increment.

The increment generated mixed reactions from electricity stakeholders across the country, including the organised labour and electricity distribution companies.

In its reaction, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) lauded the decision of the court, describing it as a “judicial and courageous judgment”.

However, Neil Croucher, DisCos Chief Executive Officer, criticised the verdict, stating that they were yet to receive a copy of the judgment.

Croucher said they would appeal the judgment.

Mr Kola Adesina, Chairman Egbin Power Plc, also said that “electricity cannot be sold below its cost.

“If a product is being sold and everybody knows the cost of the product and somebody says no, make sure your price is less than the cost of production, the answer is obvious,” Kola said.

“The issue at hand is not an opinionated matter, what everybody must do at any point in time is to look at the consequences of the decision being taken.”

Onwumere observed that the judgement had a potential to hurt the Nigerian electricity market and the country’s economy.

The spokesman said: “This is yet another spanner in the works, not too long ago, the DisCos took NBET to court to restrain it from escrowing their accounts.”

He explained that reactions suggest that “the Nigerian electricity market seems to be an entity at war with itself with a seeming inability by key stakeholders to come together and resolve all lingering issues”.

According to him, with this type of situation, it becomes unthinkable to dream of attracting investors finance for the infrastructure improvement.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Court grants Fani-Kayode N50m bail

Fani-kayode sandwiched by EFCC officials Justice James Tsoho of the Federal High Court Abuja on Thursday granted a N50m bail to former spokesman of the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode. Fani-Kayode was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a five-count charge of money laundering to the tune of N26m. Fani-Kayode is the sole defendant in the fresh charges numbered, FHC/ABJ/CR/140/2016. The EFCC accused the defendant of diverting 26 million Naira allegedly received from the ONSA while Sambo Dasuki was in office. The anti-graft agency also accused him of handling the said N26 million without going through financial institution as required under the Money Laundering Act. The embattled former minister is already facing 17-count charge of money laundering before the Lagos Division of the court, along with a former Finance Minister; Nenadi Usman, Danjuma Yusuf and a firm; Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Limited. They were charg...

Pope not involved in Colombian peace deal- Vatican

Pope Francis Pope Francis has turned down a request to play a role in the peace deal between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group. The Vatican in a statement issued on Wednesday in in Vatican City said that an invitation was sent to his Holiness in early August to appoint a representative to participate in the committee that selected the judges for the talks. The statement said that though Pope Francis supported the peace process, he, however, reiterated that he would not get involved in Colombian peace deal. It said that Pope was praying for the enlightenment of the hearts and minds of those who were called to promote the common good of the Colombian nation. A deal was announced last week, putting an end to five decades of internal conflict between government forces and the FARC rebels. The agreement, which needed to be ratified through a referendum in Oct. 2, would entail setting up a special court to grant amnesties or pu...

Man docked for defiling 9-year-old girl

magistrate-court A 33-year-old man, Godwin Otobo, was on Monday docked at a Surulere Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.For allegedly defiling a nine-year-old girl, ‎Otobo, who lives at No. 10, Borrow Pit St., Sangotedo-Ajah area of Lagos, was said to have defiled the underage girl whose parents also reside in the same compound. The Prosecutor, Sgt. Anthonia Osayande, told the court that the accused committed the offence at about 9.00 p.m. sometimes in September. “The accused defiled the girl in the night when she was fetching water.‎ “The offence contravened Section 137 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011,’’ Osayande told the court. The accused pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of defilement. Ruling on a bail application filed by the accused, Chief Magistrate Ipaye Nwachukwu, granted him bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum. She said one of the sureties must be a property owner in Lagos State, while the other must be a civil servant on grade...