The Nigerian government on Monday has assured that electricity subsidies will remain in place for the next three years while they figure out a plan to gradually move towards fairer pricing.
This comes amidst reports that the government was planning to stop subsidizing electricity in the country, DAILY GIST reports
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, while addressing a press conference on February 14, 2024 had declared that Nigeria can no longer continue to subsidize electricity as the country must begin to move towards a cost-effective tariff model.
Adelabu said the country is currently indebted to the tune of N1.3 trillion to generating companies (GenCos), while the gas companies are being owed $1.3 billion.
The minister stated that state governments will now be allowed to generate power independently to supply power to their states.
According to him, only N450 billion was budgeted for electricity subsidy in the 2024 budget.
He, however, revealed that findings by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) showed that subsidy would gulp about N2.9 trillion this year.
More details to follow….
