Acoalition of human rights activists,
labour, journalists and
lawyers have moved against the
recent increase in electricity tariffs
and have consequently petitioned the
United Nations, UN Special Rapporteur
on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights,
Ms.Magdalena Sepulveda Carmona.
e coalition in a petition recently, requested
the Special Rapporteur to send an
urgent appeal to the federal government to
delay the increased =xed rate electricity tariffs
until it is able to put in place mechanisms
to ensure regular and uninterrupted
electricity supply, and to carry out the impact
assessment of the increase on people
living in extreme poverty.
According to the coalition, “By introduc- ing =xed rate electricity tariffs, the government
is complicit in violating the human
rights of people living in poverty and undermining
their personal development and
prosperity.We believe that it is premature
for the government to increase electricity
tariff prior to taking effective measures to
guarantee and ensure regular and uninterrupted
electricity supply across the country.”
e coalition has also requested the Special
Rapporteur to visit the country to conduct
an in-depth investigation into the
effects of the increased electricity tariff on
people living in poverty, and to urge the
government to take all reasonable measures
toprotect, respect and ful=l the rights
of people living in poverty and social exclusion
across the country.
Signatories to the petition include: Socio-
Economic Rights and Accountability Project
(SERAP); Wole Soyinka Centre for
Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ); Nigerian
Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lagos
State Council; Nigerian Labour Congress
(NLC), Lagos State branch;Nigeria Bar Association
(NBA) Ikeja branch; National
Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees
(NUFBTE); and Joint Action Front
(JAF).
Others are: Women Advocates Research
and Documentation Center (WARDC);
Women Empowerment and Legal Aid Initiative
(WELA); Partnership for Justice (PJ); Campaign for Democratic
Workers (CDWR); Democratic Socialist
Movement (DSM); Civil Society
Network Against Corruption
(CSNAC), and Education Rights
Campaign (ERC).
e coalition said that the introduction
of a new electricity tariff
by the government of
President Goodluck Jonathan,
not only risks violation of human rights under the International
Covenant on Economic Social and
Cultural Rights but also exacerbates
and perpetuates poverty for
millions of Nigerians already vulnerable
and marginalized and lack
access to basic necessities.
“We believe that the increased
Jxed rate electricity tariffs by over
a hundred percent without corresponding
increase in electricity
supply target some of the most
marginalised and impoverished
members of Nigerian society,
many of whom are struggling with
basic living costs and without access
to regular electricity,” the
coalition argued.
According to the coalition, “e
increased Jxed rate electricity supply
also disproportionately impact
those living in extreme poverty,
which according to the African Development
Bank have increased
over the years. We believe that to
allow the increased Jxed rate electricity
tariffs to stand would have
detrimental impacts on the
human rights of millions of Nigerians,
many of whom are currently
living in extreme poverty.”
It therefore expressed serious
concerns that increasing electricity
tariffs by over 100% at a time
power supply has not improved
and indeed remains irregular will
exacerbate the poverty level in the
country and further perpetuate
discrimination, inequalities and
vulnerabilities thus contributing
to violations of the human rights
of the citizens. Also, while the government
has increased electricity
tariff, it has failed and/or neglected
to investigate the spending
and mismanagement of about
$3.5 billion annually on power in
the last 10 years.
It said that the alleged missing
$16 billion meant for power projects
has not been recovered and
that perpetrators have not been
brought to justice, yet electricity
infrastructure is epileptic and lack
of maintenance culture precipitated
by greed and official corruption
at the highest level of
government have contributed to
the poor electricity services in the
country, the coalition further argued.
It also said that millions of Nigerians
living in extreme poverty and without access to basic necessities
of life and with no means to
pay the new electricity tariff are
being made to pay for the unresolved
corruption in the power
sector. We believe that theincreased
electricity tariff will limit
the access of the poor to regular
electricity as they will be unable to
pay the new tariff.
“e government has a responsibility
to ensure that electricity
services are progressively made
available, on the basis of equality
and non-discrimination, to the
whole population, including those
most disadvantaged, such as the
fringe dwellers and the rural poor.
e government cannot use the
‘privatization’ of the power sector
as excuse for this discriminatory,
unfair and unjust increase, the
coalition noted.
“Under international law, both
the process and the implementation
of privatisation should be
consistent with human rights.
erefore, the government is not
relieved of its human rights responsibilities
by privatising the
provision of basic services such as
electricity,” the coalition maintained..
SERAP Executive Director,
Adetokunbo Mumuni who signed
the petition on behalf of the coalition
disclosed that the petition is
opened for endorsements by.
It would be recalled that the government
recently conJrmed that
as many as 120 million Nigerians
are currently without electricity.
But under the Multi-Year tariff
Order (MYtO) regime, there
would be increases in electricity
tariff every year till 2016. e tariff
schedule showed that the Jxed
cost will go up every year while the
energy cost per kilowatt-hour of
electricity will also increase.
e increase, the coalition argued,
means that electricity consumers
would pay between N700
and N800 monthly – up from
N500 – regardless of whether they
make use of electricity for the period
or not.
e government has however
conJrmed that the increase is
preparatory to the privatisation of
18 state-run power generation,
distribution and transmission
companies.