ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) has faulted the recent hike in electricity tariff and fuel price – citing that the hikes are not only ill-timed but also counterproductive.
The organisation submitted at its 42nd meeting held virtually to review the ‘State of the Nation’, that the privatization of the electricity sub-sector seven years down the line, has not yielded the anticipated positive results.
“The privatization process in which the entire sector, including its important asset, was sold at about N400 billion and despite government’s injection of N1.5 trillion in the last four years, Nigerians are still being made to pay more.”
AAN also noted the lack of proper accountability mechanism on the part of the government, citing that the EndSARS protests were a product of lack of responsiveness of government over the years that metamorphosed into a force associated with harassment of innocent citizens, extortion at gunpoint, and extra-judicial killings of suspects, innocent Nigerians, and foreigners.
It added that the Federal government and ASUU’s prolonged failure to reach a mutual agreement invariably strengthens the decay in education to the disadvantage of the entire country; noting that “the unimplemented 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement remains a setback.”
It also raised concerns about the country’s limited testing capacity for COVID-19 and the increase in the cases of rape and other forms of Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) since the COVID-19 lockdown and the cases of attacks in the Northeast.
(READ MORE:Electricity tariff increase is suspended for 2 weeks)
Following these observations, the organization recommended that:
- Those who ordered the Lekki Tollgate shooting, and the officers who fired at peaceful protesters must be brought to book openly.
- Those who sponsored hoodlums to disrupt the peaceful protests, attack their fellow citizens, and destroy properties, must be identified and made to face the wrath of the law, in order to pass a clear message that elites should desist from using young Nigerians for political gains.
- The Federal Government should ask the Central Bank to unfreeze the accounts of #EndSARS promoters without delay.
- The Federal Government should rethink its stand on the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System and pay the salaries of ASUU members and implement the FGN/ASUU agreement.
- The reversal of the fuel price and electricity tariff and request that meters be provided for all electricity consumers.
- The Federal government should engage with key international actors, including the United Nations, United States, and the United Kingdom in providing support for the Nigerian forces & Multi-national Joint Task Force (MJTF) in countering and ending insurgency in the Northeast.
- Nigeria should consider looking inwards for its own solution to end the growing insecurity in the country.
- Financial inclusiveness should be encouraged through increased access to low-interest credit by the small-scale farmers, especially smallholder women farmers who produce over 70% of food consumed in the country, to avert the looming food crisis.
(READ MORE: FG proposes additional tax exemption for small businesses)
What you should know
ActionAid Nigeria is an international not-for-profit organization, and a member of ActionAid Global Federation. It maintains a strong relationship of interdependence and mutual accountability within the international federation, ensuring a strong balance between self-rule and shared rule.
AAN started operations in Nigeria in 1999 as a Country Programme of ActionAid International and has since transformed into an autonomous national organization registered with the Nigerian Corporate Affairs Commission.