Universities in the country are groaning under the yoke of high tariffs thrust on them by electricity distribution companies, DISCOs, which may see the 10 with the highest budgets spending over N75 billion on electricity this year.
The 10 universities have a combined budget of N247.6 billion for 2024.
Checks by Vanguard showed that the situation has led to many universities rationing power, or some being disconnected from the national grid by DISCOs over unpaid bills.
The 10 public universities with the highest budgets for 2024 are the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, N36.6bn; the University of Calabar, N29. 5bn; Ahmadu Bello University, N29. 2bn; Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, N26.3bn; and the University of Benin, N24.2bn.
Others are the University of Ibadan N23.4bn; the University of Maiduguri N22.3bn; University of Port Harcourt, N19. 6bn; University of Lagos N19. 4bn; and Obafemi Awolowo University, N17.1bn.
However, the universities are not finding it easy to cope with high electricity tariffs, as their recent categorisation into ‘’Band A’’ without commensurate provision of electricity is putting them under severe pressure.
For instance, the monthly bill given to UNILAG jumped from N180 million to N300 million. The situation is same at ABU that contends with about N300m monthly bill.
At the Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, BEDC, raised the monthly bill from N20m to N60m. The university is supposed to enjoy 20 hours of power supply, but hardly gets eight hours daily.
At UNIBEN, which recently experienced students’ unrest, occasioned by poor power and water supply on campus, the BEDC upped tariff from N80m monthly to N250m.
The situation is the same in universities across the country.
What universities now go through — UNIBEN saga
Before the protest by students that led the authorities to shut down the university, the non-availability of electricity put a strain on the students and staff as they resorted to using solar powered facilities and generators.
The health centre at Ugbowo Campus was worst hit as officials do not have access to power from 10 pm after the generating set is switched off. The generator is on for three hours, and this forces workers on night duty to use torch lights.
Strategic offices, including the secretariat of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, run on generators and there is no substantive Students Union Government, SUG, since the union was disbanded after some of its officials invaded the senior staff quarters when a governorship candidate was their guest, an action seen as an affront on the management and staff of the university.
The obvious implication is that staff cannot deliver on their work 100 per cent “because it is only the administrative block that the generator can power throughout working hours,” and students cannot have conducive environment to learn.
When contacted, the Head, Branding and Corporate Communications of BEDC, Mrs. Evelyn Gbiwen, attributed the increase in energy tariff to the directive of the National Electricity Regulation Commission, NERC.
“The new tariff system determines what ‘Band A’ customers would pay, there is nothing deliberate about any customer.
“It is a general policy that when customers don’t pay their bills, they will be disconnected. And it is when such a customer pays his bills that he would be reconnected,” she added.
The Public Relations Officer of the UNiBEN, Mrs Beneditta Ehanire, when contacted, said: “Management is bending backwards really but will continue to sue for patience because everyone is tensed. A tanker has been engaged to supply water to a hostel that had water challenge.
“Despite the challenges, management of the university has gone the length to ensure that students do not suffer unduly by providing electricity with a generator to all the hostels between the hours of 6am and 7am as well as 7pm and 10 pm daily.”
Aliko Dangote University laments
After the monthly power bill given it by the Kano Electricity Distribution Company, KEDCO, jumped from N20m to N60m, Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology, Wudil, Kano State, was disconnected by KEDCO over unpaid bills.
Though the matter was later resolved and the power supply restored, relying solely on power supply by the DISCO has become untenable.
The Dean of Students’ Affairs, Prof. Abdulkadir Dambazau, said: “The management has been making sacrifices to pay the bills, but KEDCO’s sudden increase in the monthly bills from N16-17 million to N50-60 million, plus an accumulated bill of N248 million, has left us struggling.
‘’The university has appealed to the government, philanthropists, and citizens to come to its aid to avoid a complete shutdown, as the institution cannot function without power.”
Kwara Varsity, Malete opts for IPP
Kwara State University, Malete, in Moro local government area of the state is no longer using the federal government IBEDC power supply, says Dr Saedat Aliyu, the Corporate Affairs spokesperson of the institution in an interview with Vanguard.
She said that since about six years ago, the authorities of the university had commenced an Independent Power Project that would be solely supplying the institution with power.
“We aren’t using IBEDC supply anymore.We started our independent Power Supply project about six years ago and as we speak we have added Solar Power Supply to augment for effective use of power supply to the academic community.”she said.
At the University of Ilorin, located in the state capital, the last bill for June 2024 was about N380m, Vanguard reliably gathered. The bill was increased from about N350m in May 2024.
Further findings showed that payment of the IBEDC bill has put pressure on other finances of the citadel of learning.
Against the backdrop of the hike in the bill of IBEDC, it was also gathered that power supply to the institution has been drastically reduced, as students in their hostels are now given power for between three and four hours daily.
Consequently, water supply to the hostels and academic areas has also been badly affected, as frequent water supply has been restricted to very important areas, while water supplies to hostels are no longer regular.
“Water supply is given about an hour daily now, unlike some months ago when we used to have frequent water supply. Many students now manage to bath and cook with bags of pure water.
‘’While those who can afford it now give their clothes to dry cleaners, others take their dirty clothes to town,” said a student in Mass Communications Department, who craved anonymity.
Director of Information of the University, Mr Kunle Akogun, could not be reached for comments at the time of filing this report.
ABU laments N3.6bn electricity bill
The Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State said it cannot afford the N3.6 billion annual electricity bill slammed on it.
The bill averages N300 million monthly, given the cost of N206 per kWh under the Band A electricity tariff, which the institution has described as “unaffordable.”
The university made this known in a letter sent to President Bola Tinubu on Monday, July 1, 2024, titled ‘An open letter to the visitor, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, over the looming energy crisis in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.’’
The letter, signed by 40 professors from different departments, called on Tinubu to intervene in the huge tariff, said universities should be shielded from the extremities of commercialisation.
The letter noted that the institution, alongside “Nigerian public universities in general, cannot afford it due to their weak financial position resulting from chronic under-funding.”
The statement read: “We, the undersigned Nigerian citizens and academic staff of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, wish to forward a complaint over the debilitating energy crisis bedeviling Ahmadu Bello University given the centrality of electricity supply to university operations and seek your intervention for its resolution.
“We take this action out of the conviction that, as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Visitor to the university, Your Excellency is in a position to mediate over the matter, especially because the crisis aggravated with the recent high increase in electricity tariff in the country, which ABU in particular, and Nigerian public universities in general, cannot afford due to their weak financial position resulting from chronic underfunding.”
The letter, copied several other educational organisations, explained that if the N3.6bn were to be transferred to the university’s 50,000 students, the current municipal charges alone would have to be hiked up by at least 500 per cent, saying “not only is this sum impossible to pay by virtually all students but also negates the position of the Federal Government on the matter.”
The workers advised: “In light of the above considerations, Your Excellency, we urge you, in your capacity as the Visitor to all federal universities and the Head of State and Federal Government, to take urgent and decisive action by directing the Federal Government to cover the cost of electricity supply as part of the overhead grant to all federal universities in the country.
“Alternatively, Your Excellency, considering the Federal Government’s 49 per cent ownership stake in GENCOs and DISCOs, ongoing investments in them, and its role as guarantor of social balance and security, you could instruct DISCOs to provide uninterrupted electricity supply to all Nigerian universities in exchange for tax credits.
“FG can mandate DISCOs to introduce a dedicated social tariff band with reduced rates that universities can afford, given their current funding constraints.”
According to Auwalu Umar of the Public Affairs Directorate of the university, before the recent increase in the electricity tariff in the country, the university used to pay an average of N120 million every month.
“Now, with the increase in the electricity tariff, the university’s monthly electricity bills has shot to N320 million on the average. So, the university simply can’t cope up with the situation, especially when students are in session.
‘’The money is not there to pay these huge monthly electricity bills. Afterall, the overhead the university receives every year from the Federal Government can’t pay its electricity bills for one month. So this is the situation at present,’’ Umar lamented.
What FG is saying on adequate power supply
As the DISCOs have hiked tariff for Band A customers, the federal government is lamenting that the amount required to improve power supply in the country is huge.
Speaking at the recent Nigerian Oil and Gas Energy Week in Abuja, the Minister of Power, Chief Bayo Adelabu, said DISCOs would need about N6 trillion revenue yearly to ensure steady power supply in Nigeria.
He pointed out that the industry currently generates about N1 trillion annually in revenue, explaining that an additional N5 trillion in revenue would stabilize power supply in the country.
He said the industry needed to work harder to attract the N16 trillion spent annually by individuals and entities in self-generation of power in the country.
“The requirement to have a stable, uninterrupted and functional electricity supply in Nigeria requires huge funds that the government and its budgets cannot afford to fund it alone,” the minister noted.
CONUA reacts
The National President of the Congress of University Academics, CONUA, Dr Niyi Sunmonu, said the high power tariff affects both individuals and corporate bodies negatively.
He said: “The tariff increment is part of the things the labour centres are fighting against. Its effects on individuals and institutions are profound. Educational institutions should be granted special status. They are not profit-making entities. They produce manpower for the whole country.
“If a university pays between N250 million and N300 million per month, where is the money to pursue research?
‘’The universities should be given special status. We cannot say because we want to generate money for our DISCOs, we will then kill the education system.’’
ASUU’s position
ASUU, through the National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the situation boiled down to poor financial standings of the universities.
Osodeke said: “The universities are poorly funded. It is a general thing and not peculiar to the universities. The universities have the competence and capacities to have their own IPPs but where is the support for them to do so?
‘’We are a failed state where nothing works. We supply neighbouring countries with electricity, but we don’t have one hour of power supply at home.”
Take varsities away from Band A — NANS
The National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, through the National President, Comrade Lucky Emonefe, said the government should take away higher institutions from Band A categorisation.
“Let the government take away the institutions from their so-called Band A category. The schools are not for profit generation. If the schools are now forced to pass the cost of power to the students, that will be a great disaster. Students will be at the receiving end.
“Students and university workers need constant power supply to read and work effectively. Government should not allow the situation to degenerate into another protest by students and youths, “ he said.
The way out — Parents
In the view of the Deputy National President of the National Parents/Teachers Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo, the matter should be looked into and handled dispassionately.
“DISCOs are business entities that want to survive but like some federal agencies and institutions, the universities are owing them. I would suggest that the increase in tariff should be reversed.
“The increase in the Band A tariff is not necessary. The universities should negotiate with the DISCOs on what they can pay and how they can pay.
“We cannot judge the DISCOs if the clients are not above board. Electricity is like the data provided by telecom companies and it is the blood of the economy.
‘’The universities should also find means of generating their power, at least we have many eggheads there. Let the government support them to do so,” he stated.
FG’s aware, addressing it, says Education Ministry
When contacted, the Director of Press, Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs Folasade Boriowo, said the government is aware of the situation and taking steps to address it.
“The ministry is fully aware of this problem. The V-Cs have been advised to work as a group and make presentations. The Federal Ministry of Education is actively considering bringing power to the universities and other tertiary institutions via Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, a facility that is climate-friendly and which will be cheaper.” (Vanguard)