More Hardship Looms As Tinubu Hints At Fresh Electricity Tariff Hike For Nigerians
The Nigerian Government has disclosed that plans are ongoing to further increase electricity tariff.
President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Energy, Olu Verheijen, shared this in an interview in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, according to Bloomberg.
Verheijen was attending a World Bank-backed conference where Nigeria presented a $32 billion plan to enhance electricity connections by 2030.
Private investors are expected to contribute $15.5 billion, with the remainder coming from public sources, including the World Bank and African Development Bank.
The energy adviser noted that Nigeria’s power prices need to increase by about two-thirds for many customers to reflect the cost of supply.
Verheijen suggests that increased electricity tariffs are necessary to support essential maintenance, enhance reliability, and attract private investment in power generation and transmission. However, to mitigate the impact on low-income households, subsidies would be required to balance the higher costs.
“One of the key challenges we’re looking to resolve over the next few months is transitioning to a cost-efficient but cost-reflective tariff,” Verheijen said.
According to her, it will enable the sector to generate “revenue required to attract private capital, while also protecting the poor and vulnerable”.
“Your energy policies have to be closely linked with your own ambition for your country,” Verheijen said.
She disclosed that Nigeria’s ambition is to be a “$1 trillion economy in five years and to move to an upper-middle income country in 25 years.”
