Organised labour unions, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have advised the federal government to reverse the privatisation of the power sector in the interest of the generality of Nigerians.
The advice was given by the leadership of the organized labour in the state, on Monday, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during a protest against the electricity tariff hike and removal of subsidy from the power sector by the Federal government.
During the protest led by the State chairmen of NLC, TUC, Comrades Hakeem Ademola Benco and Lasisi Akeem, the business office of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), along Abiola Way, Abeokuta.
Lasisi berated the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) for increasing electricity tariff without consulting the organised labour and other stakeholders, while Benco called on President Bola Tinubu to compel NERC to revert the hiked electricity tariff.
Lasisi said, “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 salaries remain stagnant.
“DisCos that could not install prepaid meters to all electricity consumers do not have the gut to increase electricity tariff, that is why we are saying that the privatisation policy of all these DISCOs 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.”
