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 public universities have a combined budget of N247.6 billion for 2024. The situation has led to many universities rationing power, or some being disconnected from the national grid by DISCOs over unpaid bills.
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 categorization 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 the same at ABU which 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 student unrest, occasioned by poor power and water supply on campus, the BEDC upped the tariff from N80m monthly to N250m. The situation is the same in universities across the country.
