By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu Monday warned that there would be total darkness in the country in the next three months if the proposed electricity tariff hike is not implemented.
The minister disclosed this on Monday in Abuja when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Power at an investigative hearing over the recent electricity tariff hike by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).This followed the rejection of the new tariff regime by the Senate committee, led by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe.
Adelabu said, “The entire sector will be grounded if we don’t increase the tariff. With what we have now in the next three months, the entire country will be in darkness if we don’t increase tariffs.“The increment will catapult us to the next level. We are also Nigerians, we are also feeling the impact.”
He said the sum of $10 billion is needed yearly for the next ten years to revive the nation’s power sector and nip in the bud the challenges bedeviling it.“For this sector to be
revived, the government needs to spend nothing less than 10 billion dollars annually in the next 10 years.
“This is because of the infrastructure requirement for the stability of the sector. But the government cannot afford that. And so we must make this sector attractive to investors and to lenders.