Do Not Increase Electricity Tariff - NLC Warns FG

The deputy president of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, said this while reacting to a hike by the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) on 'Kakaaki', AIT's breakfast show on Tuesday, August 31.

Ajaero said there shouldn't be an increase on tariff while wages of workers have remained unchanged Ajaero further revealed that there is a regulatory hijack of the power sector, hence their transfer of inefficiencies on Nigerians Join our charity initiatives.

Meanwhile, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) said that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had approved an increase in electricity tariff from N42.44 to N58.94 from September 1 had recently made headlines.

Report gathered that shortly after the statement was made public, Adeoye Fadeyibi, managing director of Eko DisCo, denied that the statement came from the company and asked the public to disregard the report.

Ajaero commenting further, said he wondered why NERC was considering another tariff increase when the wages of workers have remained unchanged. Ajaero, who is also the general secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), revealed further that there was a regulatory hijack of the power sector by electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos), which he said were bent on transferring their "inefficiencies" on poor Nigerians.

He added that the seven-man technical committee on electricity tariff submitted its report on February 22, 2021 at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja to Labour and Employment Minister Chris Ngige. The minister had said at a bipartite meeting between the government and organised labour that the government would consider the reports on electricity tariff and petrol increases.

He said: "Late last year when this issue came up, the NLC stepped in and then they set up a seven-man committee headed by minister of state for labour and employment, 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."