Lagos: AKINOLA-ABORU COMMUNITIES STAGE PROTEST AGAINST BAND A OUTRAGEOUS ELECTRICITY TARIFF
Residents of Akinola-Aboru communities, comprising six community development associations (CDAs) in Alimosho local government area in Lagos, held a protest on Wednesday, September 25, 2024 to reject the Band A electricity tariff of N227/kWh. The feeder supplying these communities was formerly on Band B tariff of N68/kWh but Ikeja Electric has secretly migrated it to Band A, something that amounts to 233% increment. The migration from Band A to Band B was effected on September 1, 2024.
For most community members, this new outrageous tariff is a bitter pill to swallow. Many spend more on electricity than the N70,000 minimum wage. The residents in these communities are mostly retirees, widows, unemployed, petty traders, lowly paid workers and thus cannot afford the tariff. A community resident complained of loading N10,000 worth of electricity pre-payment and it got exhausted within 2 days. This amounts to N150,000 monthly.
Rather than reduce the tariff, the federal government has publicly said that there will be another increment for Band A customers because Naira depreciated in the months of August and September 2024. The government also plans to eradicate the so-called subsidy within 3 years and subject all consumers to Band A tariff. It is the same neo-liberal exploitative approach to petroleum products that has led to prices going through the roof that is being replicated in electricity pricing.
The hardship is giving way to mass anger and frustration leading to outbreak of struggles in many communities across the country. The Akinola-Aboru Estate Communities have vowed to continue the mass actions until their demands are met. The community residents are demanding re-migration to Band B because the tariff is more affordable. They also demand the issuance of prepaid meters to all for free and an upgrade of electricity facilities for better service delivery.
As a prelude to today’s protest, the community leadership organized a sensitization rally on Saturday, September 21, 2024. The protest started by 9am today with a short distance rally after which, there was a press interview. The protest in the community ended at about 11am and about 50 of the protesters boarded buses to the Ikeja Electric Plc headquarters Alausa where picketing was held for one hour.
The management of Ikeja Electric who had ignored the demands in the last 3 weeks quickly arranged a meeting with the protest/community leaders to hold on Thursday September 26, 2024.
Chinedu Bosah, the National Coordinator of the Coalition for Affordable and Regular Electricity (CARE) and a leading member of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), who is a resident of the communities, played a significant role in the planning and organization of the struggle. Three other members of the DSM also participated in the protest and about 400 copies of a CARE leaflet were circulated.
Postscript
Galaxy TV broadcast a report of the protest and the Vanguard newspaper published an article about it on September 26 which included a video report:
gistaroundyou11 | Lagos State Electricity Band A users protests electricity hike | Instagram
Contact CARE: [email protected]
