By Seyi Babalola
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have declared the privatisation of the electricity industry a failure and urged its immediate reversal.
The appeal came from organized labour on Monday in Abeokuta, during a demonstration against the Federal Government’s rise in energy tariffs and withdrawal of power sector subsidies.
According to reports, during the demonstration, NLC and TUC members shut up the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, IBEDC, office in Abeokuta’s Leme area.
Addressing journalists, Akeem Lasisi, the TUC chairman for Ogun State, chastised the Nigerian energy Regulation Commission, NERC, for raising energy rates without first contacting organised labour or other relevant stakeholders.
“We woke up to hear the announcement of the NERC that they have increased the electricity tariff to N225 per kilowatt per hour without consulting major stakeholders in the power sector.
“We reject this totally, workers are mostly hit because amidst this increase our salaries remain stagnant. Amidst the increase in school fees, amidst the increase in exchange rate, amidst the increase in prices of commodities and services in the country, our own salaries remain stagnant.
“DISCOs that could not install prepaid meters to all electricity consumers should not have the guts to increase electricity tariff. That is why we are saying that the privatisation policy should be automatically reversed.
“NERC should concentrate more on regulating the DISCOs rather than increasing the electricity tariff. We are saying that Nigerians should not be shortchanged. This policy should be stopped, Nigerians should be allowed to breathe, enough is enough, we reject this totally,” Lasisi said.
