Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has said that “the government of President Goodluck Jonathan should blame its failure to acknowledge let alone implement decisions of the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights and Special Rapporteur on adequate housing sent to the government in November 2013 for the poor electricity supply in the country.”
This followed disclosure this week by the Federal Government that the nation has recorded a loss of over 2,000 megawatts in the national grid due to shortage of gas supply to the thermal plants.
In a statement today by SERAP executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni, the organization said that, ““To date, the government has not responded to the eight crucial questions raised by the UN on the unfair and discriminatory electricity tariff and the pervasive level of corruption in the electricity sector. The unfortunate result is that Nigerians are made to pay for ‘electricity’ they never enjoy.”
“The investment of over $30 billion in the electricity sector in the past 15 years has brought nothing but darkness to millions of Nigerians. The President-Elect Muhammadu Buhari should as a matter of priority probe where the $30 billion has gone and work with the UN mechanisms to ensure the full and effective implementation of their recommendations,” the organisation said.
It would be recalled that Ms. Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights and Ms. Raquel Rolnik Special Rapporteur on adequate housing United Nations published Joint Letter of Concern sent to the government of President Goodluck Jonathan in which they expressed concerns that “access to electricity (and regularity of supply) is a significant problem in Nigeria,” and raised eight questions for the government to answer within 60 days.
The rapporteurs also said that, “Less than 50 per cent of registered electricity customers have access to electricity meters, and ongoing inaccuracies in measuring electricity usage will continue to hinder fair electricity access and exchange.”
They wanted answers to the alleged “mismanagement throughout the privatization process, and around 3.5 billion USD that has been mismanaged annually over the last ten years, and a total of 16 billion USD released to improve electricity supply in the country that has not been properly accounted for. The Business Units which have taken over from the PHCN participate in large-scale corruption such as graft from exorbitant consumer bills, rejection of payment to independent third parties such as banks to keep management of funds secret, unprecedented disconnection of consumers’ power lines, general bribery and fraud amongst staff, adding up to over NGN 1 billion extra charged to consumers annually.”
The letter with reference No NGA 5/2013 is dated 26 November 2013, and signed by two special rapporteurs expressed concerns that “at the end of 2012, Nigeria with a population of about 160 million people only generated about 4,000 megawatts of electricity, which is ten times less than some other countries in the region with less population.”
According to the rapporteurs, “all beneficiaries of the right to adequate housing should have sustainable access to energy for cooking, heating and lighting. The failure of States to provide basic services such as electricity is a violation of the right to health. Electricity must be provided without discrimination towards people living in poverty and that no one should be denied access to essential services because of an inability to pay”.
The rapporteurs sent the letter following a petition by a coalition of human rights activists, labour, journalists and lawyers led by SERAP. The petition alleged that the implementation of the Multi-Year Tariff Order II (MYTO II) by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) is “having detrimental impact on the human rights of those living in poverty in the country.”
According to them, “The increases in electricity tariffs, problems with measuring electricity usage, lack of improvement in the quality of the service and lack of transparency in the use of funds, reportedly disproportionately impact on those with little disposable income, as well as exacerbate the scarcity of energy supply for those who already cannot afford electricity even if connected to the grid.”
They pointed to Nigeria’s international obligations “under various international human rights instruments and in particular: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, acceded to by Nigeria in 1993), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, ratified by Nigeria in 1993), the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, ratified by Nigeria in 1985) and the African (Banjul) Charter on Human Rights and People’s rights (ratified by Nigeria in 1983).”
“The human rights framework does not dictate a particular form of service delivery and leaves it to States to determine the best ways to implement their human rights obligations. However, the State cannot exempt itself from its human rights obligations when involving non-State actors in service provision. On the contrary, when non-State actors are involved in service provision, there is a shift to an even stronger focus on the obligation of the State to protect,” the special rapporteurs added.
They further argued that, “As part of its obligation to protect, the State must safeguard all persons within their jurisdiction from infringements of their rights by third parties. Involving non-State actors in service provision requires, inter alia, clearly defining the scope of functions delegated to them, overseeing their activities through setting regulatory standards, and monitoring compliance.”
“Given the fact that in Nigeria electricity provision has been outsourced to the private sector, the obligation remains for the Nigerian government to ensure that private sector actions do not result in violations of the right to an adequate standard of living,” the special rapporteurs argued.
(THE SUN)
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