By Chimezie Godfrey<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to \u201cdirect the Minister of Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba and the Chairman\/CEO, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Professor James Momoh to immediately reverse the unlawful, unjust and unreasonable increase in electricity tariff, which reportedly occurred in December 2022.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SERAP also urged him to \u201censure the investigation of the spending of public funds as \u2018investments and bailouts\u2019 by successive governments to electricity distribution companies (DisCos) and generating companies (GenCos) since 2005, and prosecution of cases of corruption and mismanagement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Following reported approval by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), electricity tariffs were increased across DisCos in the country in December 2022. Several prepaid customers have reportedly confirmed the increase. Both the Minister of Power and NERC have refused to confirm or deny the increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the letter dated 7 January, 2023 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: \u201cThe increase in electricity tariff would exacerbate the extreme poverty across the country, and undermine the ability of millions of Nigerians to satisfy\u00a0basic human needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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SERAP said, \u201cthe increase in electricity tariff failed to follow due process. It is entirely inconsistent and incompatible with the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended], the Electric Power Sector Reform Act and the country\u2019s international human rights obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to SERAP, \u201cmillions of Nigerians continue to live in darkness despite the spending by successive governments of trillions of naira as investments and bailouts to electricity companies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The letter, read in part: \u201cthe increase is unjustified, especially given the unreliable, inefficient and poor quality of electricity in the country. Rather than providing electricity discounts to poor Nigerians, successive governments continue to give bailouts to electricity companies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within 7 days of the receipt and\/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions to compel your government to comply with our request in the public interest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cYour government should have used the report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which shows damning revelations that some 133 million Nigerians are poor as a basis to improve access to regular electricity supply, and extend electricity to remote rural households.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe latest increase in electricity tariff is coming on the heels of the NBC report which shows\u00a0that over half of the population of Nigeria are multidimensionally poor and cook with dung, wood or charcoal, rather than cleaner energy. High deprivations are also apparent nationally in sanitation, time to healthcare, food insecurity, and housing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cAccess to regular electricity supply would improve the quality of life of the population.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cElectricity is an essential public service but millions of Nigerians continue to pay the price for corruption in the electricity sector\u2013staying in darkness, but still made to pay crazy electricity bills. Electricity supply remains inadequate and irregular.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cRegular and uninterrupted access to electricity is a fundamental human right. Your government has legal obligations to ensure that the operations of NERC and electricity companies do not impair the effective enjoyment of the right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAccess to affordable electricity services is a prerequisite for improving the condition of people living in poverty. It is a means to generate other important services that mitigate poverty, bearing in mind that access to electricity facilitates the eradication of poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cThe hike in tariff would increase financial burdens for socially and economically vulnerable Nigerians and further marginalize and disproportionately affect them, and exacerbate their vulnerability to discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe failure of successive governments and high-ranking government officials to prevent widespread and systematic corruption in the electricity sector and to bring suspected perpetrators to justice is the primary cause of the exploitation of electricity consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cInvestigating the spending of investments and bailouts by successive governments in DISCOS and prosecuting anyone suspected of corruption and mismanagement of public funds, and recovering any proceeds of crime would end a culture of impunity in the power sector, and improve access to and affordability of electricity in Nigeria.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSuccessive governments have failed to increase power generation and provide Nigerians with regular and uninterrupted electricity supply, with many electricity contracts shrouded in secrecy, and trillions of Naira going down the drain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cSection 14(2)(b) of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended] provides that, \u2018the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnder Section 16(1)(a)(b), your government has the obligations to \u2018harness the resources of the nation and promote national prosperity and an efficient, a dynamic and self-reliant economy\u2019, and to \u2018secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cNigeria has also ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which recognize legally enforceable economic and social rights, such as the rights to education, health, safe food and clean water, security, and shelter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYour government also has legal obligations to ensure that socially and economically vulnerable Nigerians including the 133 million the NBC documents as poor\u00a0enjoy non-discriminatory access to basic household services including electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cUnder Chapter 2 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria dealing with Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy, high-level public officials have a clear obligation to \u2018eradicate all corrupt practices and abuse of power. Furthermore, the constitution prohibits the exploitation of Nigeria\u2019s human and natural resources for any reasons other than for the good of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cArticles 5 and 9 of the UN Convention against Corruption also impose legal obligations on your government to ensure proper management of public affairs and public funds, and to promote sound and transparent administration of public affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cThe African Commission on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights has adjudged the failure of the States to provide basic services such as electricity as violating the right to health.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Chimezie Godfrey Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to \u201cdirect the Minister of Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba and the Chairman\/CEO, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Professor James Momoh to immediately reverse the unlawful, unjust and unreasonable increase in electricity tariff, which reportedly occurred in December 2022.\u201d SERAP also urged him to \u201censure<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,46,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-context","category-political-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7807"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7808,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7807\/revisions\/7808"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}