Last week, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) picketed the headquarters of electricity providers over tariff hike
The organized labour made good its threat to shut down the headquarters of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), and Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) headquarters over the recent hike in electricity tariff.
Under the aegis of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and its Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), the organised labour which demanded a reversal of the hike, also shut down state offices of electricity distribution companies (DisCos), across the country.
The group said that the privatization in the power sector was a ‘colossal failure ‘ and demanded a complete reversal of the exercise and recovery of all public electricity assets sold.
Earlier on, leaders of NLC and their TUC counterparts had on May 3, 2024, written to the Minister of Power, and the Chairman/CEO, of NERC, giving them the May 12 deadline to reverse the electricity tariff increase or face industrial unrest.
The picketing of NERC, TCN and the Ministry of Power was carried out by the NLC, and the TUC.
NERC had earlier announced a hike in electricity tariff across the nation for Band A customers from N65/kwh to N225/Kwh which attracted condemnation from many sections of the country, including the organized labour.
The labour leaders had converged at the Central Business District Area, Abuja Labour House, as early as 7am on that day before proceeding to NERC headquarters, displaying various placards with inscriptions such as “increase regulatory oversight on DISCOs and GENCOs not tariff increase on poor and innocent Nigerians”, “let the poor breathe, give us affordable and constant power”, “N228 per kilowatt is killing, reverse it now,” “Electricity tariff increase, not acceptable,” “We are not a generator republic”, “We are not generator Republic,’’ and ‘’IMF, World Bank, leave Nigeria power sector alone,’’ among others.
‘Collosal failure’
The president of the NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero who addressed media men said the privatisation of the power sector was a ‘colossal failure’, saying organised labour in Nigeria was demanding a complete reversal of the power sector privatisation and the recovery of all public electricity assets sold.
Ajaero: “Workers are the hardest hit by the increase in electricity tariff. Unlike business people, wage-earning workers cannot adjust their income when the costs of utilities are increased.
“This stagnancy in wages amidst increases in the cost of electricity and refined petroleum products push workers over and beyond the limits of sanity and survival.
“Small and medium scale businesses which accommodate millions of workers in the informal economy are severely affected by increases in energy costs. Many such businesses are forced to shut down thud ballooning Nigeria’s unemployment market. The ancillary cost of crimes and social unrest is a daily living experience on our streets.
“Organised labour in Nigeria is forced to the conclusion that the privatisation of the power sector in Nigeria is a colossal failure.
‘Organised labour in Nigeria demands that the complete reversal of power sector privatisation and the recovery of all public electricity assets sold dirt cheap to largely inexperienced, technically deficit and financially challenged private investors.
“Nigerian workers reject the recent increase in electricity tariff and the associated upgrading and downgrading of customers from one band to another. It is our clear position that Nigeria, after more than sixty years of independence, cannot be rationing and rationalising darkness. This is unacceptable.
“We call on the government to respect the terms of the September 2021 Agreement with Labour which was reinforced by a 2023 agreement that the government must halt further increase in the tariff of public utilities until certain conditions are met, including the review of the privatisation exercise, de-dollarisation of gas supply for electricity generation, distribution of pre-paid meters to all electricity consumers in Nigeria, increase in electricity generation and distribution in Nigeria, with adequate commitment to investment in green and renewable energy sources and finally respect the rights of all electricity consumers in Nigeria?”
Delivering organised labour’s demands to the chairman of NERC, Sanusi Garba, Ajaero informed him that the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, had been directed to order workers in the sector to cut off power supply to all the areas NERC and TCN offices are located across the country as part of workers’ protest against the hiked tariff.
