By Isaac Akerele
Amid the pains of Fuel Subsidy removal on Nigerians, President Bola Tinubu has disclosed his administration’s plans to halt subsidy on electricity.
This was revealed by Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adebayo at a press conference in Abuja, Wednesday, February 14
Mr Adelabu told journalists that Nigeria cannot afford to keep subsidizing electricity as the Country is already currently indebted to the tune of 1.3 trillion naira to generating companies (GenCos) and a 1.3 billion dollar debt owed to has companies
According to him, the budget for electricity this year which stands at 450 billion naira is not enough as the ministry currently needs over 2 trillion naira to keep up with subsidy
As a result, going forward, State governments will be allowed to generate power independently to supply power to their states.
He recalled that the reason the power grid collapsed no less than six times between December 2023 and February was due to gas shortage, old machines in the grid value chain, low capacity to evacuate generated power, and a few power stations in parts of the North-East geopolitical zones of Nigeria, that have been destroyed
He also revealed further that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) currently has over 100 abandoned projects stemming from contract figure variations due to foreign exchange fluctuations. As a result, TCN will not award new contracts until existing projects are completed.
Over 50 billion naira was allocated in the 2024 budget to construct mini-grids providing electricity to remote regions lacking grid access.
The Minister also said he contacted the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu seeking security assistance to safeguard critical power infrastructure from attacks.
Recall that President Bola Tinubu at his inauguration, May, 2023 had announced that the Federal Government will no longer provide fuel subsidy as there was no provisions made for it in the 2023 budget. The announcement led to panic in the country and a resulting spike in the price of fuel
Following Tinubu’s proposed move to end subsidy for electricity, due to inadequate budgeting, many analysts believe that Nigerians now face yet tougher times ahead.
