Why we have not hiked electricity tariff - Minister

The Minister of State for Power, Mr.Goddy Jeddy-Agba has revealed that the Federal Government will not raise the electricity tariff arbitrarily.

Stating yesterday, the Minister stated that this is the reason why the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has not allowed the increase of electricity tariff.

Recalling that in 2020, there was a move to hike the tariff but the government entered into a negotiation with the organized labour, he added that if the tariff was arbitrarily increased the tariff, it could have "cut our nose to spite our face.”

Continuing, the minister said “we realized that it has to be reasonable, affordable and available as much as possible.”

Jeddy-Agba spoke at the “Power Correspondents Association of Nigeria (PCAN), 2021 Annual workshop in Abuja.

He said because the government is humane, it is opened to criticism and amendment.

According to him, the government is working assiduously to add more power to the grid for the benefit of the citizenry.

The minister said: “Siemens is on already. The problem we had in Mambilla project has been resolved already.

“So, the project will soon come on stream. And you will see also, we finish that and do Kasimbila and do Zungeru.

“Zungeru, by the first quarter of next year will be commissioned and we will put more power to the grid and you will see improvement.”