Sunday Oduntan, executive director of research and advocacy, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), has asked Nigerians to stop calling its members NEPA.
ANED is the umbrella body of electricity distribution companies (DisCos).
Speaking during a programme on TVC, he said if Nigerians keep calling them NEPA, it means they don’t want electricity.
The National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) was in charge of electricity generation, transmission and distribution in Nigeria, but later changed to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
“I understand how Nigerians feel when it comes to paying more for anything. But we also want Nigerians to understand the following. Number one, stop calling us NEPA,” Oduntan said.
“The more you call us NEPA, the more it shows that you don’t know that anything has changed in this country. It means that you don’t want any change. It means that you don’t even want electricity. That is the way I look at it.
“We are DisCos, but we are not dancing DisCos. We are distribution companies. PHCN is dead, NEPA is dead.”
Speaking on the proposed tariff increment by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Oduntan said some factors contributed to the adjustment.
“More than 95% of what we use in the power sector are imported,” he said.
“Now, they have to look at foreign exchange, the rate of inflation. They have to look at the cost of generation, including the cost of gas. If all those things go down, tariff has to come down.”
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