The Federal Government says it will start subsidising electricity in universities and health institutions under Band A feeders.
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu disclosed this on Saturday when he appeared on a programme aired by different radio stations in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Adelabu, however, said the government would not subsidise private businesses operating in these universities and hospitals.
After the Federal Government removed subsidies from customers categorised as Band A and upgraded their daily electricity supply to a minimum of 20 hours daily, universities and public hospitals cried out that their bills had skyrocketed.
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Recently, the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital cried out over what they described as an outrageous electricity bill charged by the Eko Electricity Distribution Company for May.
The institutions said they were jointly presented with a bill of about N280m for May instead of the less than N100m they used to pay.
The monthly bill given to UNILAG jumped from N180m to N300m.
The Federal University of Technology, Akure had its bill raised from N20m to N60m by the Ibadan DisCo. At the University of Benin, the tariff was hiked from N80m monthly to N250m.
The Vice-Chancellor of Babcock University, Ogun State, Prof. Ademola Tayo, said in July that the institution paid N300m as electricity tariff in May, lamenting that the high electricity tariff was a great threat to quality education in Nigeria.
Speaking of this, the minister said the government is aware that universities and hospitals are having challenges paying the bills.
“We know they are development institutions, they are social institutions. However, inside health and educational institutions, private businesses are hiding. These people charge their customers commercially and they expect to be subsidised because they are located within the territories of these institutions.
“We said no, go and do a proper search and meter everybody. For the ones that are properly health and education-related, we are ready to subsidise them, even if they are on Band A. We are compiling our data, DisCos will collect a certain amount and the government will pay the balance. But we must get the data right so that we are not subsidising a private business that is charging its customers commercially. That will be an abnormal profit and it is unfair,” he stated.
By Dare Olawin
