Electricity: Why we must pay higher tariff –Osinbajo

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Monday 27/11/2017 declared that Nigerians will have to pay higher tariffs for electricity.
Osinbajo made this known when speaking at the 6th presidential business forum for private stakeholders which was held in Abuja .
He however said that the increase in the tariff would not commence for now.
His words: “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 but how we can ensure we clean up the entire value chain.”
He stated further: “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.

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo

“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.”
In a related development, Osinbajo has assured World Bank officials that the government had now devised a clear pathway to achieve power sector reform objectives.
He gave the assurance when he received the officials on Monday in Abuja.
He praised thew bank for its commitment and support to the implementation of the power sector recovery programme of the government.
The delegation of the World Bank (WB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) was led by Mr. Riccardo Puliti, Senior Director of the Bank’s Global Energy Practice.
The vice president noted that the partnership with the World Bank had helped “Nigeria a great deal with the timelines and milestones that had to be achieved and also a great deal in refining our own approach to the entire reform process.’’
“We are completely committed to ensuring that we play our part in the arrangement and we think that this is possibly one of the clearest pathways in a long time,’’ he added.
He lauded the partnership between the federal government and the World Bank team for the commitment and support shown to the implementation of the power sector recovery programme.
In his remarks, the Senior Director on Global Energy Practice at the World Bank, Mr Riccardo Puliti, expressed satisfaction with federal government’s cooperation and commitment to the reform of the power sector.
According to him, the partnership between the World Bank and the federal government is a model which will add great value to the power sector in Nigeria.
Puliti equally praised President Muhammadu Buhari for the remarkable achievements in the ease of business ranking released recently by the World Bank.
He noted that it was a major milestone for the country’s economic reform programme.

The meeting was attended by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola and the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun.