The Federal Government of Nigeria stated in Abuja Thursday that the cost of electricity consumption in Nigeria is the cheapest and most defaulted by consumers in the world.
The government’s submission to this effect was made during an interactive session of the Senate Committee with the Minister of State for Power, Abubakar Aliyu , and heads of various agencies in the power sector.
The minister in his own submission said electricity is highly subsidised in Nigeria by the federal government which made its cost to be cheapest across the globe.
He backed up his claim by making a comparative analysis of the cost of electricity in Nigeria with those of the neighbouring countries.
“Cost of electricity in Nigeria is the cheapest across the globe, particularly gas to power which is highly subsidised.
For example, while the cost of electricity in Nigeria is 15 cent per kilowatt, it is 42 cent in Niger Republic, 23 cent in Republic of Benin, 25 cent in Mali, 28 cent in Senegal, 27 cent in Burkina Faso, etc”, he said.
He, however, lamented that while the government is doing everything possible to make electricity affordable and available for Nigerians, many of the ordinary consumers and even critical agencies of government default in payment of bills.
Making similar lamentation, the managing director of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) , Sulyman Abdulaziz, said high rate of defaults on electricity bills by critical government agencies led to disconnection of Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) in Kaduna and Kano from the national grid recently.
He added that though they have been temporarily reconnected, they must make payment through the affected DISCOs to TCN within the 60 days grace given.
