The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said it will be
embarking on a nationwide street protest along with the Trade Union
Congress (TUC) and civil society allies against the 45 percent increase
in electricity tariff on Monday.
The NLC declared the new electricity tariff announced by the Federal Government of Nigeria
unacceptable.
In a statement signed by its
president, Ayuba Wabba, NLC said the planned protest will hold Monday,
February 8, in Abuja and the 36 states of the federation.
“Our members have been sufficiently
mobilized and are ready to go. If you are an electricity consumer and
you are not happy with the bills electricity companies serve you every
month, you are invited to join this protest rally.”, the NLC said.
According to the statement, the protest are
scheduled to start in Abuja from the Labour House, Central Business
District at 8.00am before moving to the NERC head office at Adamawa
Plaza, Plot 1099, First Avenue, Off Shehu Shagari Way, Central Business
District. From the NERC office, they will proceed to the Abuja
Electricity Distribution Company at Zone 4 and thereafter to the
National Assembly.
Wabba explained that the protest have
become inevitable following the inability of the labour unions to get
the Federal Government to rescind its decision to hike electricity
tariff.
NLC noted that due process in the extant
laws for such increment was not followed in consonance with section 76
of the Power Sector Reform Act, 2005;
“There has been no significant improvement
in service delivery. Moreover, the fact is that most consumers are not
metered in accordance with the signed privatization Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) of November 1, 2013, which stipulates that within 18
months gestation period, all consumers are to be metered;
“There is a subsisting Court Order dated
28th May, 2015 by Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court,
Ikoyi, Lagos, in the case of Toluwani Yemi-Adebiyi versus NERC &
Orders, that there shall be no further increment until the determination
of the substantive suit.
“• The increment at this time negates the
present biting and prevailing economic recession vis-a-vis an attempt to
further impoverish the poor masses.” NLC stated.
The labour union explained that, “We
stakeholders, on Increment in Electricity Tariff (a broad coalition) met
in Lagos on January 28, 2016 and issued a communiqué demanding an
“immediate halt of this morbid and exploitative intention” failure of
which would lead to:• Mobilization of all Nigerians to resist the new
tariff; Mass protests/picketing of all DISCOs’ offices across the
country; Directing all consumers to reject any bill with the new tariff
and other actions necessary.”
It said, “Earlier, Nigerians had
spontaneously moved to the streets in Lagos, Benin, Kano and other
cities when NERC announced this increase in the last quarter of 2015.
“At the level of the Congress, we had
issued a communiqué on December 22, 2015 rejecting this tariff hike and
demanding that pre-paid metres be made available free to all consumers.
“We noted that Distribution Companies “have
continued to exploit Nigerians by estimated billing system for the
majority of consumers, while deliberately refusing to make available
prepaid metres.
“We reached out to core government
constituencies including the Minister of Power, the leadership of the
National Assembly and NERC, all in an effort to find an amicable
resolution through the quality of the logic of argument and practical
realities on ground which include the incontrovertible fact that even
before this increment, Nigeria paid the highest tariff per kilo-watt in
Africa and contiguous regions. We pay much higher than Egypt and
countries with stronger economies.
“With the increment, this disparity will
not only be substantial, it will kill Nigerians and businesses. The
saddest part of it all is that there is no co-relation between the
quality of service delivery and this tariff.
“The implementation of this tariff is an
act of lawlessness because there is a subsisting restraining court order
on further increases. And yet we are in a democracy.
“The point must also be made that the
immediate past government in its twilight approved a whoppingN18.26
billion for these companies in order to boost electricity supply. Yet
there is nothing to show for it. A privatised sector that continues to
parasite on government with insignificant benefit to Nigerians is at
best a leech on our economy and should be interrogated.
“We would want to make the point that this
tariff increase is only intended to protect the investment of a select
few and not to serve the interest of other Nigerians. In light of all of
the above, this increase is illegal, unfair, unjustifiable and a
further exploitation of the already exploited Nigerians.
“We also said the challenges in the economy
which have adversely reduced the purchasing power of ordinary Nigerians
and slowed down businesses including manufacturing have made this
increase unsustainable and unjustifiable.”
Recall that, the Nigerian Electricity
Regulatory Commission, NERC; had in December last year announced a new
electricity tariff regime that has various rates of increase in energy
charges for consumers across the country.
The commission also announced the discontinuation of fixed power charges for all classes of electricity
consumers. However, electricity consumers are to pay for what they
consume.
With this development, power distribution
companies would no longer charge their customers monthly fixed charges
that require electricity consumers to pay an approved amount of money
not minding whether electricity was consumed during the billing period.
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