The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja Branch, has given the federal government and Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) a seven-day ultimatum to reverse the new electricity tariff or face a lawsuit.
The branch chairman, Seyi Olawunmi, said this at a news conference on Tuesday.
Olawunmi deemed it insensitive and irrational that the power pricing increased by 240 percent.
He said the tariff hike did not align with Nigeria’s economic circumstances.
“We view this sudden astronomical increase in the end-user tariff irrespective of the technical arguments preferred in justification, as utterly exploitative and non-reflective of the current economic hardship that the masses are going through,” he told the news conference.
“We, therefore, demand an immediate stop to the illegal implementation of the N225 per kWh imposed on the so-called Band A customers at the discretion of both the Discos and NERC without any empirical basis.”
He warned that the branch will pursue legal actions if the “illegal” electricity pricing was not reversed within seven days.
The tariff was increased on 3 April in a move aimed at cutting down on power subsidies borne by the government.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) explained that the price hike was for 15 percent of electricity customers in Band A, using a 5-tier classification system.
