Focus… Should Nigerians pay more for electricity?

Finally the D-Day is here, Monday, February 1st. The date all electricity consumers in the country are expected to adopt if you like, a new payment regime as announced by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.
The new payment policy will however not include service charge anymore as was the case before, but Nigerians are expected to pay more this time.
Groundswell of opposition against new tariff
The new policy regime is coming in spite of a subsisting court order for all parties to stay action.
It may be recalled that Barrister Toluwani Yemi-Adebiyi, a human rights activist, had taken the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), to court and subsequently got an order from the Federal High Court in Lagos to stop the NERC from further increasing its tariff. The injunction granted by Justice Ibrahim Idris against any increment was subsisting and had not been discharged.

The extended labour unions, including the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have set machinery in motion to picket the offices of the electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) nationwide on Monday (today).

Justice Idris made the order on May 28, 2015 restraining NERC from increasing tariff in June. The judge later restated the order, saying it subsists until the substantive matter is decided.
The House of Representatives had also kicked against the new tariff, just as the organised labour said it was unacceptable.
In fact as an indication of their opposition to the whole idea, the extended labour unions, including the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have set machinery in motion to picket the offices of the electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) nationwide on Monday (today).
At a stakeholders’ meeting convened in Lagos over the weekend, the NLC president, Comrade Ayuba Wabba and his counterpart at TUC, Comrade Bobbi Kagama, and Messrs Adeola Samiel-Ilori, Coordinator, Electricity Consumer Protection Forum, Toluwani Yemi-Adebiyi, a human right activist and Chinedu Bosah, Publicity Secretary, CDWR had described as illegal, unfair and unjustifiable a further exploitation of the already exploited Nigerians the intention to increase electricity tariff come February 1st, 2016.
Justifying the need for the rejection of the new tariff, they said due process was not followed in line with Section 76 of the Power Sector Reform Act, 2005.
Besides, they said there has been no significant improvement in service delivery just as they accused the DISCOs of reneging on the memorandum of understanding in which the latter promised to provide meters to all electricity consumers but failed to do so.
Subsequently, they hinted that the labour unions will as a matter of necessity mobilise all Nigerians to resist the new tariff by embarking on mass protest and picketing of all DISCOs’ offices nationwide.

Labour said there has been no significant improvement in service delivery just as they accused the DISCOs of reneging on the memorandum of understanding in which the latter promised to provide meters to all electricity consumers but failed to do so.

“We direct all consumers to reject any bill with the new tariff and so many other actions we may deem necessary.”
Forcing a fait accompli on Nigerians
It does appear the federal government has already considered the new policy regime as a fait accompli judging by the preparedness of the electricity’s distribution companies (DisCos) to go ahead with the implementation.
Speaking under their umbrella body, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), the DISCOs said power consumers’ cooperation have become imperative so as to ensure a hitch free service delivery.
ANED Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Sunday Oduntan urged the customers to pay their electricity bills for the growth of the power industry and the economy.
Nigerians, he lamented, only pay for 40 per cent of electricity supplied, a situation, he admits, creates grave financial constraints for the entire value chain.
“There is a culture of non-payment for electricity in Nigeria, maybe as a result of attitude of past governments. This attitude cuts across all the geographical regions. We pray our customers to endeavour to pay their bills,” he stressed. Nigerians, he emphasised, waste energy instead of conserving.