Swallow Painfull Pill of Electricity Tariff Hike – Fashola Pleads With Consumers

Babatunde Fashola, Minister of Power, Works and Housing, described the increased electricity tariffs as “a painful pill,” appealing to consumers to “swallow” it.

He said, “Importantly, I understand that people who have been disappointed over a long time will feel a sense of concern that again tariffs have gone up. But the truth is that these tariffs ought to have been there from day one. I don’t know why the government of yesterday was not courageous enough to tell us this was the price.

“It is a painful pill that I must appeal that we swallow. It is like quinine and malaria. It’s painful; it’s not sweet, I know that, but I do it because we are not left with many choices. This is the first major decision in power that this administration has taken. There are other problems.

”I can only appeal for some understanding and some trust that we do this in the best interest of our country. It is a hard decision, but I think down the line, we will have cause to look…”

The minister, said the sector was being plagued by several problems including gas supply shortfall and transmission issue.

“The problem is everywhere. The problem is with us. The problem is with gas. The problem is with transmission. The problem is with the way the privatisation exercise itself was conducted.”