Fuel, electricity price hikes ill-timed, says group

A non-governmental organization, ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) has described the recent hikes in electricity tariffs, pump price of fuel as ill-timed and counterproductive.

At its 42nd meeting held virtually to review the ‘State of the Nation’, the group said privatization of the electricity sub-sector seven years down the line, has not yielded the anticipated positive results.

“The privatization process in which the entire sector, including its important asset, was sold at about N400 billion and despite government’s injection of N1.5 trillion in the last four years, Nigerians are still being made to pay more.”

It asked the federal government for the reversal of the fuel price and electricity tariff and requested that meters be provided for all electricity consumers.

It also noted that the lack of proper accountability mechanism on the part of the government, citing that the EndSARS protests were a product of lack of responsiveness of government over the years that metamorphosed into a force associated with harassment of innocent citizens, extortion at gunpoint, and extra-judicial killings of suspects, innocent Nigerians, and foreigners.

Speaking on the ASUU, FG debacle, the group said the prolonged failure to reach a mutual agreement invariably strengthens the decay in education to the disadvantage of the entire country; noting that “the unimplemented 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement remains a setback.

The Federal Government should rethink its stand on the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System and pay the salaries of ASUU members and implement the FGN/ASUU agreement.

It also raised concerns about the country’s limited testing capacity for COVID-19 and the increase in the cases of rape and other forms of Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) since the COVID-19 lockdown and the cases of attacks in the Northeast.

It advised the federal government to engage with key international actors, including the United Nations, United States, and the United Kingdom in providing support for the Nigerian forces & Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) in countering and ending insurgency in the Northeast.