By Isiaka Wakili

The Federal Government has said that Nigerians must pay higher tariffs on electricity.

Speaking at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday at the 6th Presidential Quarterly Business Forum for Private Sector Stakeholders, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo described payment of higher tariffs as inevitable.

He said: “Listening to questions concerning lower tariffs, we must pay higher tariffs, these sorts of things are inevitable. What we are trying to do is not increase tariffs for now, but how we can ensure we clean up the entire value chain. I’m sure you are aware of the Payment Assurance Guarantee which we put in place for over N700billion to ensure gas is paid for and for liquidity in the whole value chain.

“Today (Monday), we will be meeting with the World Bank on a scheme they have been working with us on to fund the entire value chain, and ensure we transit smoothly from where we are, to a much more market-determined policy for electricity.

This will involve a fair amount of subsidy; the Federal Government and World Bank are working together on that. There is no way of sustaining the current subsidies for long term, but we want to ensure the process is smooth.”

Dailytrustng