The Minister of State for Power, Abubakar Aliyu, has berated Nigerians over their attitude towards payment of electricity bill.
The minister said despite supplying the cheapest electricity to Nigerians, the country still recorded the highest number of electricity bill defaulters in the world.
Mr Aliyu made the assertion on Thursday during an interactive session with the Senate Committee on Power and heads of agencies in the power sector in Abuja.
The minister made the claim by comparing the cost of electricity in Nigeria to other African countries.
“Cost of electricity in Nigeria is the cheapest across the globe, particularly gas to power, which is highly subsidised,” he said.
“For example, while 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.”
Mr Aliyu complained that while the Nigerian government is making efforts to ensure its citizens have access to affordable electricity, many consumers and even government agencies default in payment of electricity bills.
The Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) , Sulyman Abdulaziz, also lamented the high rate of defaulters of electricity bills.
He said the increase in the number of electricity defaulters led to the disconnection of Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) in Kaduna and Kano states from the National grid recently .
Proffering solutions to the defaulting rate, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Gabriel Suswam, proposed that the ministry of finance should deduct from the allocations of the affected government agencies that are found guilty of defaulting electricity bills.
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