Electricity tariff hike: NLC, TUC, others set to paralyze businesses nationwide

By ANDREW OJIEZEL

NIGERIA Labour Congress (NLC) Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Civil Society have vowed to embark on picketing of all Discos offices nationwide should they go ahead to increase electricity tariff as planned.

Addressing Labour Writers at the NEC meeting held in Lagos, NLC President ,Comrade Ayuba Wabba, TUC President, Comrade Bobboi Kaigama, the Coordinator, Electricity Consumer Protection Forum, Comrade (Barr)Samuel Adeola Samuel-Ilori, Human Rights Activist, Comrade (Barr) Toluwani Yemi-Adebiyi and the Publicity Secretary (CDWR),

Comrade Chinedu Bosah, agreed that since Discos have violated the law, which stipulated that there must be meter for every building within 18 months, the electricity providers have no moral right to increase tariff.

Also they noted that as there is a pending case in court against such increment, doing so it against constituted authority. “We are rejecting the increment based on that the due process in the increment was not followed in consonance with Section 76 of the Power Sector Reform Act 2005. There have been no significant improvement in service delivery, upon the fact that the most consumers are not metered in accordance with the signed privatization Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of November 1, 2013, which stipulated that within months gestation period, all consumers are to be metered.

“There is a subsisting Court Order dated May 28,2015 by Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, in the case of Toluwani Yemi-Adebiyi versus NERC & others, that no 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.”

Meanwhile the organized Labour has warned that unless there is immediate halt to this increment, there will be mobilization of all Nigerians to vehemently resist the new tariff by mass protest/picketing of all Discos’ offices nationwide and directing all consumers to reject any bill with the new tariff and so many other actions we may deem necessary.