‘Politics of reduction’ — NLC accuses NERC for electricity tariff hike

...says FG shouldn't transfer burden to masses


The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) says
hike in electricity tariff pushes up inflation.

Joe Ajaero, president of the NLC, while speaking on ‘Morning Brief’, a Channels Television programme, said it is unknown to Nigerians that the tariff increase is determined by inflation and the value of the currency.

The NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) subsequently picketed NERC offices and discos on Monday to press home their demands.

On April 3, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) approved an increase in electricity tariff for customers in the classification — from N66 to N225 per kilowatt.

On May 12, members of organised labour picketed offices of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) nationwide.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), and other affiliate groups, protested the increase in electricity tariff for customers under the Band A category.

The organised labour called for a reversal of the increase and a return to the negotiating table.

On Monday, the federal government said it will go back to the drawing board with relevant stakeholders to address the issue of the electricity tariff hike.

Mamudah Mamman, permanent secretary at the federal ministry of power, who addressed members of the NLC in Abuja, said members of the national assembly have told the ministry to do a wide consultation with relevant stakeholders on the matter.

In his TV appearance on Tuesday, Ajaero kicked against the “politics of reduction” embarked upon by NERC in recent times.

The NLC president said reduction after tariff increase won’t stand, insisting that NERC and discos must first reverse the tariff to the old rates and come to the negotiation table with labour unions and other stakeholders on an agreeable way forward.

He wondered how that the government now talk about trillions of naira in subsidy of the power sector post-privatisation when there was no subsidy before the privatisation of the power sector.

“Unknown to people, this issue of tariff increase is determined by inflation and the value of the currency,” the NLC boss said.

“NERC takes these two major variables to determine tariff increase. Unknown to the same NERC, each time you increase tariff, it leads to another inflation which within few months, they would see demand for another tariff increase. And this is happening on and on and there is no control over it.

“The investors they brought in the first instance, and I say this without apologies, are not the people that were the right investors with the technical competence, with managerial ability to attract foreign direct investment. You can see that after 12 years of privatising the sector, no direct investment is coming into the sector.

Ajaero said because of the long-term nature of investment in the power sector before profit,”all over the world’, the state drives the process of developing the sector’ and ‘not to just transfer the burden on the poor masses”.

He said it is important to look at the state’s withdrawal from the sector whether it was right at the time it did. “Why do you sell it in the first instance when after the sector was sold at N400bn and the Nigerian state has invested about N2trn in the sector?

He queried that prices of food and basic commodities have gone through the roof in the last weeks, as Nigerians battle one of the country’s toughest economic crises sparked by the current government’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of forex windows.

The organised labour maintained that Nigerians cannot be subjected to more hardship with fresh electricity tariff hike when cost of living has gone through the roof.

Ajaero also insisted that the President Bola Tinubu administration must approave ₦615,000 as the new living wage, away from the ₦30,000, described as “grossly insufficient”.

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