Editorial Opinion
Impending Increase of Electricity Tariff
Electricity power consumers may pay as high as N10,000 to vend for 100 units of electricity if the tariff eventually rises. As at today, 100 units of electricity cost N5,000.
For an average family that own a fridge/freezer, 100 units cannot last for three weeks if power supply is uninterrupted. On the average, an average family needs 150 units for one month uninterrupted supply of electricity.
No thanks to the removal of fuel subsidy, the average Nigerian father/mother, son and daughter who resides in the outskirts of Lagos, let’s say in Festac, Agege, Surulere, Festac, Ajegunle and Ikorodu, etcetera, spends an average of N5,000 daily on public transport to and from their office location in Lekki area of Lagos!
Let’s not deceive ourselves, many more Nigerians will certainly lose their jobs. Companies will have to downsize their staff strength, no thank to the rising costs of production and manufacturing activities.
What has kept many families going, is the ‘handout’ Nigerian welfare tradition that friends and family extend to help one another, especially in times like this.
No matter the quantum of ‘palliative’ that is thrown at the monster of fuel subsidy removal, it will not provide succour to already impoverished Nigerian families if succour providing policies are not deployed by the federal government.
Members of president Tinubu’s Presidential Advisory Commission, PAC, must go back to the drawing board to holistically develop policies that will mitigate the harsh effects of inflation brought about by subsidy removal. The creation of job opportunities, not introduction of tax policies in form of VAT surcharge on goods and services, when the purchasing power and value of take home wages of Nigerians have been obliterated by a plethora of multi-level taxes.