Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola on Tuesday, said there no going back on the 45 percent increase in electricity tariff.
Fashola stated this when he briefed the Senate Committees on Labour and Power during a public hearing on the new electricity tariff in Abuja.
The minister explained that the new tariff could not be reversed as it was necessary for the market to survive.
He further revealed that a reversal will cost over N575 billion.
“One of the reasons why the tariff had to go up was that a major component, a significant number of our power plant depends on gas and out of about 26 power plants that we have only about three are hydro.
“We were heavily dependent on gas, people were exporting gas because gas was selling outside the country at four dollars and it was selling for domestic use at one dollar,” he said.
During the hearing, Fashola appealed to the lawmakers and Nigerians to be patient with the government and investors on the process, saying three years was not enough to judge its success or failure.
You may recall that the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had announced a 45 per cent increment in electricity tariff in January .
