The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has stated that there would be a total blackout in the country in the next three months if the proposed electricity tariff hike is not implemented.
Adelabu made this known in Abuja when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Power at an investigative hearing over the recent electricity tariff hike by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)on Monday, 29th April.
“The entire sector will be grounded if we don’t increase the tariff. With what we have now in the next three months, the entire country will be in darkness if we don’t increase tariffs. The increment will catapult us to the next level. We are also Nigerians, we are also feeling the impact.” He added.
The minister noted that the sum of $10 billion is needed annually for the next ten years to revive the nation’s power sector and nip in the bud the challenges bedeviling it.
He emphasized that for the power sector to be revived, the government needs to spend nothing less than 10 billion dollars yearly in the next 10 years.
He stated further; “This is because of the infrastructure requirement for the stability of the sector. But the government cannot afford that. And so we must make this sector attractive to investors and to lenders.
So, for us to attract investors and investment, we must make the sector attractive, and the only way it can be made attractive is that there must be commercial pricing.
If the value is still at N66 and the government is not paying subsidy, the investors will not come. But now that we have increased the tariff for A Band, there are interests being shown by investors”.
Adelabu maintained that the inability of the government to pay outstanding N2.9 trillion subsidy was due to limited resources, hence the need to evolve measures to sustain the sector.
