The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has urged the Nigerian government to reconsider any plans to raise electricity tariffs this year, warning that such a move would severely affect businesses and the economy.
The association argued that any rise in tariffs would worsen production costs, inflationary pressures, and the closure of private businesses, further stalling economic growth.
The Director-General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, expressed concern about the continuous increases in electricity tariffs, stating that such hikes hinder the manufacturing sector’s performance and slow the nation’s economic growth.
He stressed that reliable and cost-effective energy is crucial for industrial development, and Nigeria’s privatised power sector has failed to deliver due to inadequate capacity and inefficient operators.
Ajayi-Kadir also called for a review of the power distribution companies (DisCos), their tariff structures, and the impact of past tariff hikes on the manufacturing sector.
“Unfortunately, this privatisation has not yielded any result. It is widely believed that this is because the operators in the value chain lack the technical and financial capacity to operate and deliver optimally,” he said.
“The installed capacity has been consistently put at around 10,000 megawatts, and it has not been fully utilised due to the limited capacity of the Generation Companies (GenCos) and DisCos to generate and distribute adequate electricity supply nationwide.
“Despite the inability to meet consumer demand, we have witnessed consistent increases in tariff without a commensurate and good quality supply,” he added.
