Presidency denies planned electricity tariff hike
Power grid
Abdullateef Fowewe
The Special Adviser to the President on Power Infrastructure, Sadiq Wanka, has claimed that recent media coverage had misrepresented his remarks on electricity tariffs and clarified there is “no planned tariff hike for any grid consumer across any service band.”
In a statement dated 25 July 2026, Wanka said his comments at the Asharami Square 3.0 event in Lagos on 22 July 2026 focused on investment opportunities in the power sector and the Federal Government’s reform programme.
He stressed the government’s commitment to protecting vulnerable households through continued tariff support, noting that the tariff policy direction set out in the National Integrated Electricity Policy — finalised in December 2024 and approved by the Federal Executive Council in May 2025 provides for a gradual transition to cost-reflective tariffs.
Wanka said the policy is “a long-standing, publicly available policy of gradually transitioning to cost-reflective tariffs, already implemented for ‘Band A’ electricity consumers.”
He added that “for all other consumer bands, he was clear that there is no plan to remove subsidies. Rather, Government is exploring how to deliver value and support more efficiently.”
Highlighting a new mechanism for targeted support, the statement pointed to the Power Consumer Assistance Fund (PCAF), created under the Electricity Act 2023, which Wanka described as a way to deliver “targeted subsidies directly to vulnerable consumers through consumer electricity accounts or other identity-linked means improving transparency and strengthening investor confidence.”
The statement also appealed to journalists to provide fuller context in reporting, saying the administration “recognises the vital role journalists play in policy communication” and supporting platforms like Asharami Square that aim to deepen journalists’ capacity to explain complex policy discussions.
