The federal government and the Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) have condemned the approval given the electricity distribution companies by the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to hike tariffs from Wednesday.
They described the approval as against the recommendations of the technical committee on electricity tariffs.
While the Minister of state for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo said the technical committee which he heads was not contacted, the NLC Deputy President, Comrade Joe Ajaero urged Nigerians to rise against another tariff hike by DisCos.
The NLC Deputy President who spoke on a national television station said: “Late last year when this issue came up (of course, you know they equally increased electricity tariff by 100 per cent), the NLC stepped in and then they set up a seven-man committee headed by Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN). I happen to be a member of the committee.
“We had certain assumptions – including the issue of who the members of NERC are – because it was clear who sits at NERC at the level of consultation.
“The law is clear that you have to equally consult with stakeholders before any increase (in electricity tariff) and those agreements were reached that the price of gas must be situated; that if we situate the price of gas very well, even what we are paying will crash.
“It was assumed that tariff would even come down, if we situate the price of gas very well. There are so many assumptions that came up from that agreement, and we came and submitted our report.
“The government, represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and others, said they were going to consult with the principals and we went back. Up till this moment, none of those issues has been implemented. Then, you are coming up with another increase while as workers, our wage remains constant.
“There are workers that are paying N30,000 a month for electricity tariff. If you take one cost head and pay N30,000, what is going to happen? That is why people are crying.”
It would be recalled that NERC at the weekend had directed the 11 DisCos to raise their tariffs from Wednesday which gives the energy distributors the leverage to charge service based tariffs.
