HELP US TO HELP YOU - Fashola

Like the old adage says Soup wey sweet na money kill am , Minister of Power, Works and Housing Mr. Babatunde Fashola said for NIgerians to have a stable power supply, Nigerians should gear up for an increase in electricity tariff in no distant time. This he also indicated that the Ministry of Petroleum has signified their interest to build pipelines to aid in the transportation of gas to the power plants, at the conclusion of the pipleline and availability of gas to the plants an estimated amount of 2,000 mega watts would be added to the national grid within
12 - 15 months.

According to him, “By far the most complex challenge is the problem of tariff. It is complex because it is more in the hands of citizens than in the hands of Government.

“The role of Government is to set the tariff and in doing so, Government has committed to what is called a Multi-Year Tariff Order. This was done in order to attract investors to the market; otherwise we will not have achieved the privatization if the price of the product is not attractive to the investors.

“The tariff is the price of producing power. It covers cost of generation, gas purchase, transportation, transformers, staff costs and so on, dis-aggregated and charged per kilowatt/hour to make the business of power profitable.

“What Government did was to spread it over a number of years so that the impact is not felt at once but over a periodic incremental process. I know that it has been a contentious matter, but I make this fervent appeal to consumers to give us the benefit of doubt, to forbear and accept it"

Although it is unclear how the country would respond to such issues considering the increase in price of fuel as well as a result of the subsidy removal,the issue of power is one which calls for all to put hands on deck to ensuring Nigeria achieves stable power supply.