Nigeria super minister Babatunde Fashola, plead with millions of Nigerian to embrace the new electricity tariff plan and also faulted the privatization of power sector by immediate past Nigeria president Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan administration.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has appealed to Nigerians to embrace the increased in electricity tariff plan, describing it as “a painful pill”, everyone must “swallow”.
Former governor of Lagos-State Fashola stated this on Monday, February 8, at the second monthly sectoral meeting with stakeholders in the power sector in Lagos.
He said, “Importantly, I understand that people who have been disappointed over a long time will feel a sense of concern that again tariffs have gone up. But the truth is that these tariffs ought to have been there from day one. I don’t know why the government of yesterday was not courageous enough to tell us this was the price.
“It is a painful pill that I must appeal that we swallow. It is like quinine and malaria. It’s painful; it’s not sweet, I know that, but I do it because we are not left with many choices. This is the first major decision in power that this administration has taken. There are other problems.
“I can only appeal for some understanding and some trust that we do this in the best interest of our country. It is a hard decision, but I think down the line, we will have cause to look…”
Fashola faulted the privatisation of the power sector, which was carried out by the Goodluck Jonathan administration in November 2013.
When asked what the problems facing the sector were, the minister said, “The problem is everywhere. The problem is with us. The problem is with gas. The problem is with transmission. The problem is with the way the privatisation exercise itself was conducted.
“But as I have said before, I am not going to lament what has happened in the past. I am going to move on with it. So, the first move we have made when we accessed the situation, nobody was happy with it when we took over.
“This is a problem that has been here for 16 years, if we put it mildly. It is a problem that has been here 100 years ago, if we put it really extremely. I have been here for less than a 100 days, and I think we can solve this problem if you give us the tools that we need to do it. I think that this problem can be solved, and the day that we feel that it cannot be solved, I will gladly come and tell you that I don’t think it will work.”
Earlier today, the Nigerian Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress had shut down commercial activities in several cities in the country, protesting the increase in electricity tariff.