Electricity Tariff Hike: Labour Threatens Indefinite Protest As FG Convenes Meeting

The Federal Government has disclosed that it will next week hold a crucial meeting to address the demands by organised labour for the restoration of the power subsidy and the reversal of the hike in electricity tariff.

This was disclosed by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Power, Mrs Florence Eke.

Osun Defender reports that the labour unions picketed DisCo and IBEDC, stopping workers from accessing the workplace.

The labour unions also disrupted activities at the ministry in Abuja, on Monday.

The organised labour also threatened to continue with the protest indefinitely, stressing that it might take drastic action should the government fail to reverse the tariff hike.

The spokesperson for the power ministry, Eke, while speaking with newsmen, said that the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Mamman Mahmuda, acknowledged the National Union of Electricity Employees’ concerns regarding the lack of sufficient consultation before the implementation of the new tariffs.

READ: Kwara Labour Locks Out IBEDC Workers, Customers Over Electricity Tariff

She said the ministry was committed to transparency and would engage in a comprehensive dialogue with all relevant parties to discuss the issues raised.

“The union was at the Power House today and they were addressed by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Power. He assured that the ministry would call for a stakeholder meeting by next week where all issues will be addressed because one of the points they raised was that there was not enough consultation before the tariff was increased. The permanent secretary said as policymakers, the ministry would invite the stakeholders by next week,’’ she said.

But unimpressed, the unions issued a one-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to reverse the new electricity tariff.

The National Treasurer of the NLC, Hakeem Ambali, said that the Monday protest was a one-day event, adding that should the government fail to reverse the tariff hike, the unions would embark on “a full-blown action.’’

“The protest is a one-day warning action. If after a week nothing happens, labour will go into full action,’’ he warned.

In the same vein, the First National Deputy President of the TUC, Tommy Etim, said there would not be any engagement with the government until the tariff hike is reversed.

“We have passed our message across and we are sure that they have heard us. However, before we have any engagement with any stakeholder, the current hike must be reversed totally. That is our demand.”