Barley 24 hours after the organized labour and civil society organizations protested against the recently announced electricity tariff hike by the government and paralyzing operations in Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) offices nationwide, the Federal Government is set to meet with the groups next week to amicably resolve the disagreement over the fiscal measure.
The organized labour protest in Abuja on Monday was led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Joe Ajaero, to the Ministry of Power, the NERC headquarters and offices of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) where the workers were prevented from resumption in their offices.
Similarly, the labour unions also picketed the offices of DisCos in Kwara, Lagos, Kaduna, Plateau, Enugu, Sokoto and other parts of the country to press home their demand for the reversal of the tariff hike
Ajaero, in his speech delivered during the picketing of the NERC headquarters charged the commission to review its methodology for tariff increases in the electricity sector.
The labour leader maintained that the tariff hike was primarily responsible for the rising headline and food inflation rates, which were 33.20% and 40.01% respectively in March.
Apparently worried by the organized labour and other group’s unyielding stance for the suspension of the tariff adjustments, the Federal Government on Tuesday expressed its readiness to discuss with organized labour on the vexatious fiscal regime.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Power, Mrs Florence Eke, was quoted as saying that the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Mr Mamman Mahmuda, had on the order of the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, convened a consultative meeting for the next week with the organized labour and stakeholders to discuss the tariff issue and amicably resolve their differences.
She said: “The Ministry has asserted that its responsibility is to make policy while agencies, in this case, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, and other agencies implement it.
“The Ministry will invite all stakeholders for a proper consultation by next week”, Eke added.
