OpeOluwani Akintayo 20 July 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Minister 0f Power, Babatunde Fashola, has said that most oil and gas producing communities in the country where there is electricity, do not pay the power tariff.
He made the revelation during a public lecture at the University of Lagos, saying “somebody” carries the cost.
“It might interest members of the public to know that most, if not all the oil and gas producing communities where there is electricity connection do not pay for power. Somebody is carrying that cost”, he said.
It would be recalled that the challenges of over-billing has been a reoccurring menace in Nigeria.
Investigations have shown that communities and consumers with meters end up paying for electricity used by those without meters.
Fashola added that there is a culture of waste in those oil producing communities which do not pay for power, saying that their light bulbs do not get switched off all through the days and nights.
“It is worsened by the fact that the light bulbs are on during the day and I am told in some communities that they are never switched off. This is waste. What is wasted will never be enough”, he said.