CNPP mobilizes Nigerians to protest increased electricity tariff
The conference said increment in tariff was undesirable when supply was at its lowest ebb.
The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, CNPP, has said it would mobilize Nigerians for mass action on June 12 to protest the hike in electricity tariff.
The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, had last month announced that the new tariff would take of June 1.
NERC Chairman, Sam Amadi, explained said that the decision was propelled by the review of the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO) for 2014.
“The review has reduced fixed price charge component of the tariff,” he said.
Amadi said with the increment the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company’s R2 customers who had been paying, N13.75 per unit would now pay N14.90, noting that the fixed charge remains unchanged.
There was also increment in tariff for electricity users in other major cities across Nigeria.
Describing the increment as “obnoxious,” the CNPP in a statement by its spokesperson, Osita Okechukwu, on Monday, argued that it was not paradoxical to pay more when the electricity supply was at the lowest ebb.
It also said that it was criminal to force Nigerians to pay fixed charges monthly for those who purchased rickety electricity machines without money to fix it.
The group said it had thought that the idea of privatization was to sell to only those with the financial capacity for fix the sector, pointing out that “President Goodluck Jonathan cannot rob Peter to pay Paul.”
It noted that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, African Charter for Peoples and Human Rights and ESPR Act 2005 are there to protect consumers rather than shark investors.
“CNPP accordingly, calls on Nigerians to wake up, as the anti- peoples programme mantra of the Jonathan administration is squeeze water out of the rock of Nigerian masses as is evidenced in the increase in the duties of Tokunbo vehicles, water and electricity bills, for this is the only country in the world where the citizens pay high for everything under the sun,” the statement said.
“Our Dear Compatriots do a simple arithmetic of the how much millions of Nigerians will pay for the new Electricity Fixed Monthly Charges, which ranges from N300 – N1500 for millions of electricity meter users? Answer billions of Naira for Darkness!”
The group asked Nigerians who would want to be part of the mass action to reach it on hinokk55@yahoo.com.
