Ogun gov supports increased fuel price, electricity tariff

The governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, on Thursday expressed his support for the hike in electricity tariff and fuel pump price.

Abiodun made his position known on the increases that have attracted knocks from Nigerians in an interview with State House correspondents after a meeting he had with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

On the price of fuel, the governor said it was not possible to enjoy lower price when the price of crude oil is low and still expect to enjoy same price when the price of crude goes up.

“First, you want to enjoy lower prices when the prices of crude are low and then not want to pay for a slight increase when there is an increase in price of crude.

“The price of crude is directly proportional to the price of refined products. So, I believe that is what is happening at the moment,” he said.

On electricity tariff, he said Nigerians must decide what they want.

The governor said, “We all complain that we are not generating enough electricity and we all complain about the fact that we don’t have the right infrastructure to transmit electricity, we complain about the fact that the distribution companies do not seem to be efficient.

“The problem is because, perhaps, the pricing is not right.

“If you want people to invest in production of gas, in gas floatation, which our turbines and our power plants rely on, we must ensure that the entire value chain is profitable.

“This is because if one part of it is not profitable, that means there will be a shortfall in one of the value chains if we don’t have enough investment.

“So, if you don’t have enough investment in gas gathering, if we don’t have enough investment in gas transportation, we will not have enough gas supply to sustain the quantum of generation we require as a government or as a nation.

“And when we don’t have that, we don’t have enough that will be transmitted to our homes and the transmission grid, and then, we continue to complain.”

While expressing the hope that the National Electricity Regulatory Commission will implement the necessary regulation of the stakeholders, Abiodun added, “But truly, we must begin to pay what we need to pay so that we can have the right amount of investment in the entire value chain of the electricity industry.