A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State, Mr Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, has said the recent directive by President Bola Tinubu stopping the implementation of the hike of electricity tariff showed that he was concerned about the plight of Nigerians.
Oyintiloye told newsmen yesterday in Osogbo, the Osun State capital that the order was a true indication that the president was not indifferent to the hardship faced by the people.
The minister of power, Adebayo Adelabu, had on November 8, 2023, revealed that President Tinubu had stopped the implementation of the hike in electricity tariff and insisted that subsidy be paid on power consumed nationwide.
Oyintiloye, a member of the defunct APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) said removing electricity subsidy while Nigerians were still battling with effects of fuel subsidy removal would have been counter-productive.
He said the president’s decision on the non-hike in electricity tariffs showed that he was in constant touch with the feelings and aspirations of Nigerians.
The APC chieftain said that in the quarterly report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the federal government’s subsidy in the power sector hit N135.2 billion in the second quarter of 2023, from the N36 billion it paid in the first quarter.
He said the NERC reports, also revealed that the N135.2 billion recorded in the second quarter of 2023, was an increase of N99.21 billion or 275 per cent compared to the previous quarter of N36 billion.
Oyintiloye said the NERC report disclosed that the government is still subsidising the electricity for the masses.
He said removing the electricity subsidy which the government was still paying to fill the gap between the reflective tariff cost and allowed tariff cost would have been another burden on the masses.
“We need to commend the president for not allowing the hike in electricity tariff at this moment to scale through. This really shows that the president meant well for Nigerians and all his economic policies are in line and tune of reality which are in the best interest of the populace.
“Removing electricity subsidy at this time while Nigerians are still struggling with the effects of fuel subsidy removal will not have been the best. But because the president is a man who understands what people are presently going through in terms of exchange rate, galloping inflations among others.
“And the president is working so hard to make Nigerians smile again, that is more reason he did not allow the hike to scale through,” he said.
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