This development comes as the government says it can no longer afford to fund electricity subsidies from now on.
The Bola Tinubu-led government has hinted at plans to further increase the electricity tariff in Nigeria.
This development comes as the government says it can no longer afford to fund electricity subsidies from now on.
“Citizens must pay the appropriate price for the energy consumed,” the Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu was quoted as saying by the News Agency of Nigeria.
“The Federal Government will continue to provide targeted subsidies for economically disadvantaged Nigerians, but we must realise that our economy cannot sustain blanket subsidies indefinitely,”
Adelabu stated this at a meeting with the Chairmen of Generating Companies of Nigeria (GenCos) in Abuja.
Although Adelabu said the government plans to provide subsidies for economically disadvantaged Nigerians, he did not specify which groups would be classified as economically disadvantaged.
A statement by the Special Adviser, Strategic Communications and Media Relations to the Minister of Power, Mr. Bolaji Tunji, further revealed a planned meeting between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the leadership of the Power Generation Companies (GenCos) over a N4-trillion debt.
It was stated that the meeting would aim to reach a consensus on how to pay the debts owed to the GenCos.
“We recognise the urgency of this matter. The government is committed to resolving this debt to stabilise the sector and prevent further crisis,” Adelabu said.
Earlier in February, SaharaReporters reported that the Tinubu-led Nigerian government disclosed ongoing plans to further increase electricity tariffs.
According to Bloomberg, President Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Energy, Olu Verheijen, revealed this in an interview in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Verheijen was attending a World Bank-backed conference where Nigeria presented a $32 billion plan to enhance electricity connections by 2030.
Verheijen suggested that increased electricity tariffs were 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 would 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 was to be a “$1 trillion economy in five years and to move to an upper-middle-income country in 25 years.”
In May 2024, organised labour, led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), protested the government’s decision to increase the electricity tariff for over two million customers in Band A.
The Labour Unions took their protest to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), and Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) headquarters.
The protesters carried placards that read: “Increase regulatory oversight on DISCOs and GENCOs, not tariff increase on poor and innocent Nigerians”, “Let the poor breathe. Give us affordable and constant power”, “N228 per kilowatt is killing, reverse it now,” “Electricity tariff increase, not acceptable,” and “We are not a generator republic.” The groups also sang solidarity songs.
The rhetoric around increased electricity tariffs comes amid concerns over poor electricity supply in the country.
Earlier, a SaharaReporters review of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission data showed that the country recorded a decline in electricity generation in the fourth quarter of 2024.
According to the report, in Q4 2024, a total of 9,289 GWh/h was recorded—a decline from the 9,450.76 GWh/h recorded in the third quarter of 2024. Average hourly generation stood at 4,207.41 MWh/h, down from 4,280.24 MWh/h in Q3 2024.
Total energy received by Distribution Companies (DisCos) stood at 3,360.77 GWh/h compared to 3,445.13 GWh/h in the third quarter.
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