In April 2024, a lot of Nigerians faced various difficulties after NERC approved a 240 percent electricity tariff hike
By Kehinde Okeowo
Nigerians have said the claim by the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, that 40 per cent of electricity consumers in the country now enjoy 20 hours of uninterrupted power supply is false.
Adelabu in a statement on Sunday, noted that Nigeria’s electricity generation has hit 5,500 megawatts and attributed the improvement in power supply to the government’s efforts.
He said, “The major achievement is the fact that today we generate over 5,500 megawatts of power, we transmit and distribute it, and over 40 per cent of customers today enjoy over 20 hours of regular power supply across the nation. You can see that there is a significant improvement between when we came in and now, which we intend to improve further.”
The minister added, “The electricity that we enjoy today is not by accident. It’s because of all these transformers and mobile substations that we commissioned and installed.”
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After Adelabu’s claim made the rounds, a lot of electricity consumers in Nigeria who are faced with power outages on a daily basis disagreed with him.
Also speaking on behalf of many Nigerians, the Electricity Consumer Protection Advocacy Centre Executive Director, Princewill Okorie, in a statement described Adelabu’s claim as laughable.
He said, “Where are the reports from the 36 states? You have 774 Local Governments in Nigeria, if you take 40 percent of the population of citizens in these Local Governments, you’ll know what the data is.”
In April 2024, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) approved a 240 per cent electricity tariff hike for Band A electricity consumers getting 20 to 22 hours of power supply.
