University Students To Pay N80k For Electricity

Nigeria university students may be made to pay N80,000 for electricity as part of their tuition, according to university Vice Chancellors.

The Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian, CCCNU, made this known through their Secretary General, Prof. Yakubu Ochefu.

Prof. Ochefu to the Punch that universities in the country have decided to charge the amount from students to defray the rising cost of electricity in the nation’s ivory towers.

According to him, following the increase in electricity tariff by the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission, NERC, universities now pay as much as N200 million  monthly as electricity cost, which he said has become unsustainable for the universities.

From barely N1 billion yearly, Ochefu disclosed that the combined cost of electricity for universities in the country has risen to N4 billion following the hike in tariff by the NERC, adding that the Association has already written a letter to the federal government for its intervention.

He said the cost need to be reversed failure which the university authorities will have to compel students to pay N8,000 to reduce the burden on the university management.

Ochefu said, “Before the new tariff, universities were paying around N1bn annually, but now the cost has risen to N4bn per annum. How are they supposed to find such funds? How much is being allocated to universities for their overhead budgets?

“If the FG doesn’t step in to rescue the universities, the costs will be transferred to students as user charges, amounting to N80,000 per student. Alternatively, universities will have to limit their operations to four hours a day.

“For example, UNIBEN is currently running a generator for four hours daily, which costs them N60m a month. This is unsustainable given the need for a functioning library, internet access, and laboratory facilities.

“The charges presented before us are unrealistic. Universities can’t afford to pay N200m or N300m monthly for electricity. The Federal Government needs to reconsider this decision. We have written to the President, requesting a concessionary rate or a return to the previous rate based on the funding provided by the FG to universities. There has been no response yet. We wrote the letter when the policy was first announced.

“The matter is now in the hands of the pro-chancellors, as it is a critical funding issue. The Vice-Chancellors have done their part.”

The magazine had reported that the NERC hiked electricity tariff by over 300 percent in April for Band A customers’ category which universities in the country belong, and has refused to reverse the increase despite the directive from the National Assembly to that effect.