The Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, says the Federal Government spends over N50 billion monthly on electricity.
Aaron Artimas, the Special Adviser, Media and Communications to the minister, made this known on Tuesday via a statement in Abuja.
Artimas quoted the minister as saying this when he received the Guild of Actors and Film Producers, otherwise known as, Kannywood in his office.
“Worried by the incessant complaints by ordinary Nigerians over the unavoidable and periodic increase in the cost of electricity, the Federal Government has been subsidising electricity supply in the country to the tune of over N50 billion.
“The funds are provided to augment the shortfall by the Distribution Companies (DiSCos) who have failed to defray the cost of bulk electricity supplied to them by the Generating Companies.
“However, following a minor increase in the tariff regime, the subsidy has now decreased by half, but still constitutes a serious drain on the nation’s economy,” he said.
Mamman expressed serious concern over the failure by DiSCos to stabilise their operations to meet their financial obligations to other players in the sector.
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He said it was in response to this unfortunate development that the federal government had been forced to partly subsidise the sector so as not to price the cost of electricity out of the reach of the common man.
The minister explained that as part of the measures to assist ordinary Nigerians over their frustration in receiving adequate electricity supply, the federal government was forced to categorise electricity supply into various bands between highbrow areas and low-income earners.
He said that the categorisation of the supply was to enable everyone to cope with the cost of electricity.
Mamman said that most of the DisCos were sold off and managed as family businesses which had made them difficult to be professionally managed.
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