The Oyo State Chapter of the Coalition for Affordable and Regular Electricity (CARE) is seeking compensation for the customers of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution over the firm’s epileptic supply of power.
Convener,Oyo State CARE, Adigun Ayodeji,gave the suggestion in a statement on Tuesday.
He lamented that most electricity consumers across the state are forced to either tolerate an extended period of darkness at huge cost of electricity tariff or spend a substantial portion of their meagre income to fuel and maintain generators.
He also rejected the firm’s excuses for the perennial blackout in Oyo State.
He added:”It is in the light of this, we demand a rebates on consumers’ bills as a form of compensation for the extensive periods of power outage during which consumers were unjustly denied accesses to electricity supply. Beyond, this is the need for the IBEDC, as well as other private electricity companies, to admit the obvious truth and reality that it lacks the capacity to guarantee affordable and regular electricity for mass of the Nigerian working people.
“Since the power sector’s privatisation in 2013, Nigerians have been subjected to frequent electricity tariff hikes and widespread power outages. The situation is also characterised by a repeated collapse of the national grid many times every year. throwing the entire country into darkness at different times.
“For instance, it happened twelve times in 2024. Nigeria’s electricity supply remains woefully inadequate with a meagre 3800 megawatt of power being generated, transmitted and distributed despite an installed capacity of approximately 13,000MW. Furthermore, staggering 80 million Nigerians, predominantly from rural areas, are unconnected to the national grid, exacerbating the country’s energy crisis.
“The Minister of Power’s admission that the grid collapse should be expected at any time is a stark indication that the current power sector crisis will continue for a long time, in the face of the existing privatization policy. This, which is a clear call for an immediate overhaul of the sector, forms a major basis for our call for the immediate re-nationalization of the power sector under the democratic control of the elected representatives of the working people.
“A power sector under public ownership and democratic control of workers and consumers will usher in massive public investment that will drive the cost of electricity down and making it affordable in the long run for most Nigerian consumers.
He implored the leadership of trade unions, particularly the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) and community organizations to support the demand for the renationalization of the power sector under the control of workers and the electricity consumers.
