The Vice-Chancellor of University of Benin (UNIBEN), Professor Lilian Salami, has lamented that the recent over 300 per cent electricity tariff hike has taken a heavy toll on Nigerian universities with most of the public tertiary institutions at the verge of bankruptcy.
Salami, who doubles as the chairman of Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU), said the new tariff announced by the regulator, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has particularly increased UNIBEN’s monthly bill from N80million, which it was finding difficult to pay, to N280million per month.
Recall that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) as well as some other stakeholders had opposed the tariff hike, arguing that this would drive manufacturers out of business, worsen inflation, and stifle small and medium enterprises.
Speaking with journalists over the weekend, Prof. Salami said the University has been painfully disconnected from the national grid because it could not afford to pay about N300 million monthly for electricity alone.
She said the development has led to a situation where electricity is being rationed for about four hours a day in the University campus in view of the high cost of diesel to power generators.
She observed that this was, however, not going down well with the students who hitherto had been enjoying electricity supply, sometimes 24 hours in a week-long.
“Right now, what we are going through is electricity problem. Before now, University of Benin can boast for at least 20 to 22 hours of light and that could run for weeks without a blink.
“But as soon as tariff was up, 300 per cent, we went from N80 million that was very difficult for us to pay per month to N280 million per month. That even came when the students were on vacation.
“So, we were looking to hit N300 million per month, no institution can survive paying that kind of money without declaring bankruptcy; we were at the verge of that, so we are saying to the students we can’t pay.
“Of course, the reaction we got from the power distribution company is to cut off the light. So, right now, the light has been cut off. We are trying to use diesel and so we are now rationing light and the students are not happy; definitely, they can’t be when they used to have light 24/7, running into weeks, months and now you are saying to them you can only give them for four hours.
“So, they are not happy. If the students tomorrow go the streets, it is not because we don’t want to give them, we cannot afford. Yes, we’ve gotten unrest for one reason or the other, but it’s not deliberate on our part, that will be outside our own control,” she stated.
However, the VC highlighted some of her key achievements in the last four years to include massive infrastructure development with funding support from Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), reduced cult-related activities to the barest minimum and improvement in welfare of staff and students, and introduction of new programmes, among others.
In the same vein, Prof. Salami commended TETFund for its numerous intervention programmes in public universities and other beneficiary tertiary institutions.
She described TETFund as a ‘Messiah’ that came to rescue tertiary education in Nigeria, saying were it not for the interventionist agency, public universities in the country would have been glorified primary schools.