The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has expressed deep displeasure over the recent remarks credited to the Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, revealing the federal government’s fresh plan to hike electricity tariffs in the country.
The students’ body said the repeated claim by the Minister that the government could not sustain subsidy on electricity, and because of that, must increase now and then the tariffs on the commodity, is a “clear demonstration of his incompetency in office.”
In a statement made available to Nigerian Tribune on Monday evening, NANS’ Senate President, Usman Adamu, stated that for the minister to repeatedly prescribe tariff increments as the sole remedy for inefficiencies in the power sector, especially at a time like this when majority of Nigerians are faced with economic hardship, exacerbated by inflation, stagnant wages, and erratic power supply “means he is not only insensitive to the plights of Nigerians but also incompetent in his role.”
To us, if only the minister’s strategy to improve power delivery is to periodically hike tariffs, then the minister service is a tragic emblem of administrative inertia and cognitive bankruptcy.
“Governance demands ingenuity and not perfunctory fiscal adjustments that do nothing to improve supply but everything to deepen the woes of citizens.
