The Northern Elders Forum, NEF, has expressed dismay with the outrageous new electricity tariff announced by the President Bola Tinubu administration.
Abdulazeez Suleiman, the Director of Publicity and Advocacy, who issued a statement on the increase noted that the government was perpetuating economic oppression against the Nigerian people.
According to him, the new policy would increase the current economic hardship Nigerians are grappling with as well as widening the gap between the rich and the poor.
Suleiman posited that the cost of electricity use for twenty-four hours amounted to N5000 monthly.
NEF urged the Federal Government to take cognisance of the difficulties Nigerians we’re already passing through, warning that this could compound the country’s security challenges.
“The breakdown of the new tariffs reveals an alarming burden that the average Nigerian will face in affording electricity on a daily basis. Under the new tariff plan, 24 hours of electricity per day will cost a staggering N5,400, amounting to an unbearable monthly total of N162,000 and an astounding yearly total of N1,971,000,” the forum said.
“These exorbitant amounts are simply unaffordable for the majority of Nigerians, who are already grappling with economic hardship and trying to make ends.”
It posited that if the Federal Government insisted on implementing the new electricity tariff regime, it would amount to effectively perpetuating a form of economic strangulation that would only exacerbate the gap between the privileged few and majority of Nigerians, who are less-privileged.
