The Minister of Works, Power and House, Babatunde Fashola, on Monday, called on Nigerians to bear with the Buhari administration over the recent increase in electricity tariff, stating that the increment was the first major policy of the federal government.

Fashola, who previously served as Lagos state governor, stated this when he met with stakeholders in the Power sector for their second monthly meeting.

While the Minister was meeting with stakeholders and inspecting power projects at the Alagbon Transmission and distribution complex, the Nigerian Labour congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and other civil organizations, had embarked in mass protest across the country.

Fashola stated that:

“Importantly, I understand that people who have been disappointed over a long time will feel a sense of concern that again tariffs have gone up. But the truth is that these tariffs ought to have been there from day one. I don’t know why the government of yesterday was not courageous enough to tell us this was the price.

“It is a painful pill that I must appeal that we swallow. It is like quinine and malaria. It’s painful; it’s not sweet, I know that, but I do it because we are not left with many choices. This is the first major decision in power that this administration has taken. There are other problems.

“I can only appeal for some understanding and some trust that we do this in the best interest of our country. It is a hard decision, but I think down the line, we will have cause to look…”

The former Governor, however, faulted the procedure through which the privatization of the power sector was carried out by the Jonathan administration. He further said that:

“The problem is everywhere. The problem is with us. The problem is with gas. The problem is with transmission. The problem is with the way the privatisation exercise itself was conducted.

“But as I have said before, I am not going to lament what has happened in the past. I am going to move on with it. So, the first move we have made when we accessed the situation, nobody was happy with it when we took over.

“This is a problem that has been here for 16 years, if we put it mildly. It is a problem that has been here 100 years ago, if we put it really extremely. I have been here for less than a 100 days, and I think we can solve this problem if you give us the tools that we need to do it. I think that this problem can be solved, and the day that we feel that it cannot be solved, I will gladly come and tell you that I don’t think it will work.”