Dr Tim Anosike, President, Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ONICCIMA), on Thursday said the fixed charges imposed on electricity consumers by distribution companies amounted to “economic injustice’’.
The chamber’s president said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Onitsha, Anambra.
Anosike was speaking against the back drop of continued epileptic power supply to industrial zones as well as outright blackouts in some communities in Anambra.
He said it was a gross act of injustice for people to pay for services they did not use.
“The chamber is seeking an immediate intervention by the Federal Government, especially on the issue of monthly fixed charges imposed on power consumers, whether they consumed electricity or not.
“Thus, government should make the power providers remove fixed charges imposed on Nigerian citizens, no matter how reasonable their excuses would seem,’’ he said.
Anosike, however, lauded government’s 50 per cent reduction of electricity tariff, saying that the action had saved the manufacturing sub-sector from total collapse.
“It was hard for our chamber to be convinced of reasons why the power companies increased the tariff to 100 per cent, even with perpetual outage that has remained over the years,’’ he said.
The chamber’s boss said it was regrettable that electricity supply had not improved even with special interventions.
NAN reports that unstable electricity supply has continued to hinder the setting-up of small and medium scale enterprises and businesses in the area. (NAN)