One month after President Bola Tinubu approved a 50 per cent electricity subsidy for public hospitals and educational institutions, the subsidy is yet to be implemented, Sunday PUNCH learnt.
Expressing concern about the delay, the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities lamented that universities still grappled with high electricity bills.
Speaking in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, the Secretary-General of the CVCNU, Prof Yakubu Ochefu, said, “They haven’t provided any explanation. We are still where we were before. There has been no official communication, and universities are still paying exorbitant bills. Some institutions are even threatened with power disconnection.
“In certain cases, private individuals, chairmen of councils, and alumni associations have stepped in to help pay the monthly bills. We are hoping that by the end of this month, if nothing changes, we will have to push for a meeting with the President, who initially gave the directive, to address the lack of compliance.”
The electricity distribution companies had increased tariffs by 300 per cent for Band A customers, a development that affected several institutions, including universities and hospitals.
Despite opposition from stakeholders, including the Nigeria Labour Congress, the tariff hike has been implemented, leaving institutions struggling to pay.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin and Chairman of the CVCNU, Prof Lilian Salami, had lamented that her university’s monthly electricity bill surged from N80 million to N280 million, making it difficult to keep up with payments.
Efforts to get the response of the spokesperson of the NERC, Usman Arabi, on the matter, proved abortive as calls, text messages and WhatsApp messages sent to his phone were not responded to as of the time of filing this report.
Meanwhile, the Director of Information and Public Relations, Ministry of Power, Mrs Dibiaezue-Eke Florence, told Sunday PUNCH that she was yet to receive full details on the situation but promised to respond as soon as possible.
Peoplesmind
