General News
Nigerians Get New Electricity Tariffs
From June 1, some electricity consumers will pay far lesser than what they are currently paying for fixed charges and energy consumption.
A few others, according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), will pay ‘slightly higher’.
For instance, residents of Abuja and environs, whose fixed charge was projected to increase to N1,500 from the N750 currently being paid, will from June 1 pay N702.
This is coming as NERC released the reviewed Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO), which according to the commission, would take effect from this Sunday.
Poor electricity consumers will have their electricity consumption subsidised by the Federal Government, courtesy of a Power Assistance Fund being finalised by NERC and the Ministry of Power.
Dr. Sam Amadi, chairman of the NERC, who briefed reporters in Abuja yesterday, said the full details of the reviewed charges would be released soon.
Amadi, who announced that the subsidy would be captured in the next tariff review, stressed that the consultants working on the electricity subsidy fund were considering how the scheme operates in some other countries.
He said: “The Power Assistance Fund is not for those who don’t pay their bills or who cannot pay, so to say. It is for those who pay their bills actually. Because if you don’t pay your bill over sometime, and after due process, they will likely disconnect you. It is for poor or low-income consumers who, by way of policy, will be the one government will subsidise or mitigate the tariff they pay overall.
He said: “What we will see is that most of the consumers did not have any increase in their energy charge apart from Residential Two (R2) customers that have N1 increase in some places.
“So, instead of having a bigger Energy Charge (EC) increase that was published for 2014 MYTO since 2012, we now have the same fixed charge of N750 from the supposed N1500 which means a huge reduction and then a slight increase of about N1 or so for R2 customers.
“In Ikeja Disco for instance, R2 customers have their charges reduced because both their customer number and cost of service is optimum as they have what they require to serve their customers. They are more in a cluster, so the cost is cheaper and when they did the average with the cost of price they received, their energy charge came down lower.”
On the rates for the different states, he stressed: “The fixed charge has never been uniform, whether across customers’ classes or distribution companies. The tariffs we have always set since 2012 have been disco specific tariffs. It is possible that the fixed charge of some discos may be the same in some instances, but the principle is that they are essentially different costs and sizes.
“Even among customers’ classes, what R2 pays is not the same as what R3 pays and not what C2, C3 and other customers pay. They pay differently based on the calculation. If you go to our website since 2012, you will see that fixed charge has always been different.”
Noting that review had reduced the fixed charge component of the tariff that would have taken effect on June 1, Amadi noted how the result of the review indicates a reduction of the wholesale tariff that would be paid to generating companies as from June 1, 2014.
He said: “The general public is however to note that the wholesale tariff paid GENCOS is only one of the three components that make up the total tariff paid by consumers. The other two parts are the transmission and distribution components. Recall that one of the indices for the minor review is ‘available generation capacity’. Unfortunately, the well-known fact today is that gross available capacity from the grid as of March 31 review date is 4,306 MW. This is well below the 9061 MW that NERC had, on the basis of all information available to it, projected when MYTO was set in June 2012. This is a 52 per cent reduction on projected capacity. The reasons for this huge loss has been extensively reported and explained.
“Suffice to say that the consequences of this loss of available capacity completely outweigh the benefits that were gained from the positive macro-economic indices earlier discussed. The direct consequence for the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) is that the significant fixed costs incurred by all three sectors of the NESI have to be spread over a much lower quantity of energy projected to be sold to consumers. For this reason, the commission regrets that the distribution element, that is, the end user or customer tariff, will have to increase, this is in fulfilment of the statutory obligation in Section 5.76 (2) (a) of the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act of 2005 which mandates that the commission sets a methodology that allows ‘a licensee that generates efficiently to recover the full costs of its business activities, including a reasonable return on the capital invested in the business.’
“It is also noted that the cost of this increase would have been much higher but for the good macroeconomic management that produced a real reduction in wholesale (generation sector tariffs).”
He stressed further: “Our commitment as a regulator is to not only ensure that Nigerian electricity consumers have access to adequate and reliable electricity, but also to provide processes and mechanisms for effective remedies for any violations of service obligations by the service providers in the new Nigerian electricity market.”
The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) strengthened bilateral relations with the Netherlands’ government through an agreement targeted at improving migration governance and border security.
This partnership was confirmed during a meeting at the NIS headquarters in Abuja, which was attended by a Dutch team led by Jurgen Bartelink, Chargé D’Affaires of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Nigeria.
The meeting focused on increasing bilateral migration cooperation and came after the comptroller general of Immigration, Kemi Nandap, paid a working visit to the Netherlands.
Under the agreement, the Dutch government pledged to continue supporting technology-driven solutions targeted at boosting Nigeria’s border control systems and improving migration management.
During the Netherlands Embassy diplomats handed over essential operational tools, such as Edison Software licence keys and the Passport Examination Programme Manual App.
According to NIS spokeswoman ACI Akinsola Akinlabi, “The partnership focuses on enhancing bilateral collaboration on migration management and reviewing ongoing capacity-building efforts.”
Bartelink, Chargé d’Affaires of the Netherlands Embassy in Nigeria, underlined the Netherlands’ commitment to helping Nigeria’s continuing border security and migration reforms.
Also speaking, Rob Bokhoven, head of international affairs, repatriation, and deportation services at the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security, emphasised the country’s strong bilateral relations and announced plans to share a mobile border software solution with the NIS.
Receiving the equipment, Nandap said the delivery of the gadgets would boost West African country’s border security, significantly improve the service’s document verification border management capabilities and support the implementation of Nigeria’s National Migration Policy.
“The engagement will further reinforce the strategic partnership between Nigeria and the Netherlands advancing shared goals in migration governance, border security and international cooperation,” she added.
Peter Enogb, principal country economist, African Development Bank (AfDB), says the rise in global uncertainty, emanating from increases in global trade tariffs, has slowed Nigeria’s projected growth to 3.2% in 2025.
“Without this level of heightened uncertainty, our projections would probably have been somewhat higher. We’ve reduced our projections for Nigeria. We initially were projecting 3.5% – 3.6% growth in 2025.
“But given the current situation, our models are showing that we’re taking a more cautious approach. So that’s why we produced this and, of course, the main driver is uncertainty in the global economy,” Enogb said.
He said this at the launch of the 2025 Nigeria Country Focus Report (CFR) on Thursday.
AFDB projected that real GDP growth would hit 3.1% in 2026. Following the 2024 consumer price index (CPI) rebasing, with lower weights for food items, the inflation rate is expected to reduce over the medium term to 24.7% in 2025 and 17.3% in 2026.
As imports start to rise over the medium term, the current account is projected to decline to 3.9% of GDP in 2026.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that Nigeria’s headline inflation slowed for the second consecutive month to 22.97% in May. This is down from 24.48% at the start of the year
This is contrary to the World Bank projection that Nigeria’s economy would record steady growth of 3.6% despite the shift in the global trade dynamics.
Joseph Ogebe, head of research and development at Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), also said that global uncertainty had been very high in recent times, resulting from the Trump 2.0 effect.
“And also with the recent war between Israel and the international community, we’ve seen what’s happening to oil prices. Even with the call-off of the war, we’ve seen the effect on oil prices too, which has implications on the fiscal side. So it has implications for the general economy,” he said.
The head of research at NESG said that rather than focusing on just growth, what should be looked at is a strategy called growth with depth.
“Growth with depth means that your growth must be diversified, export-led, productive, and technologically driven,” he said.
Ogebe said that if the Government works towards adopting a strategy of growth with depth, there is a tendency for the government to move towards its goal of achieving a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
The report revealed that the country’s recent policy moves, including fuel subsidy removal, exchange rate unification, and tax reforms, reflect a commitment to long-term transformation.
However, it also pointed out that at about 13%, Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio is among the lowest in West Africa, noting that fiscal reforms are urgent.
TikTok has announced the expansion of its global mental health fund to Sub-Saharan Africa and introduced new digital safety tools aimed at improving well-being on the platform.
The announcement was made at the inaugural Digital Well-being Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa, with participants including government officials, mental health experts, NGOs and industry leaders from several African countries.
As part of the initiative, three organisations—South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG), Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI), and Kenya’s Mental360—were named as the first African beneficiaries of the platform’s $2.3 million Mental Health Education Fund.
TikTok also introduced an in-app guided meditation feature called “Sleep Hours,” rolled out globally to support better nighttime routines for users. The tool is automatically enabled for users under 18 from 10 p.m., with optional use for older users.
According to the company, the move is part of its broader efforts to support mental health, reduce stigma, and increase access to reliable support services on its platform.
The platform is also expanding access to local in-app mental health helplines across Africa, following successful pilots in Europe. The helplines will offer expert support on issues such as self-harm, harassment, and suicidal ideation.
Additionally, TikTok unveiled its first set of Mental Health Ambassadors in Africa under its collaboration with the World Health Organization. The ambassadors include medical professionals from South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya.
Valiant Richey, TikTok’s Global Head of Trust and Safety Outreach, said the company remained committed to creating a safe and supportive space for users across all regions.
The summit featured discussions on online safety, digital literacy, and access to professional mental health resources, with support from local partners such as Spectra.
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