Electricity tariff must rise —Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has hinted that electricity tariff in the country must be hiked as the ultimate solution to the erratic power supply in the country.

But he assured that government will not immediately increase it as it was concerned with cleaning up the electricity value chain at the moment.

He spoke at the 6th Presidential Business Quarterly Forum for Private Sector at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday.

He said: “Listening to questions concerning lower tariffs, we must pay higher tariffs, these sorts of things are inevitable. What we are trying to do is not increase tariffs for now, but how we can ensure we clean up the entire value chain. I’m sure you are aware of the Payment Assurance Guarantee which we put in place for over N700billion to ensure gas is paid for and for liquidity in the whole value chain.

“Today, we will be meeting with the World Bank on a scheme they have been working with us on to fund the entire value chain, and ensure we transit smoothly from where we are, to a much more market-determined policy for electricity.

“This will involve a fair amount of subsidy and help the Federal Government and World Bank are working together on that.

“There is no way of sustaining the current subsidies long term, but we want to ensure the process is smooth.”

Source: Nigeria Tribune