Nigerians will be in darkness if we don’t increase electricity tariff — Adelabu

Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has warned that there would be total blackout in the country in the next three months if the federal government fails to implement the proposed electricity tariff hike.

Adelabu said this while appearing before the Senate Committee on Power at an investigative hearing over the recent electricity tariff hike by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in Abuja on Monday.

“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 said.

Continuing, the minister explained that to revive the country’s power sector, the government needs to spend nothing less than $10 billion annually for the next 10 years.

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“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.”