Business
New electricity tariff: NLC, TUC to picket DISCOs
In from Ali Smart . . .
The extended labour unions, including the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) have set machinery in motion to picket the offices of the electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) nationwide.
At a stakeholders’ meeting convened in Lagos on Friday, the NLC president Comrade Ayuba Wabba and his counterpart at TUC, Comrade Bobbi Kagama, and Messrs Adeola Samiel-Ilori, Coordinator, Electricity Consumer Protection Forum, Toluwani Yemi-Adebiyi, a human right activist and Chinedu Bosah, Publicity Secretary, CDWR, described as illegal, unfair and unjustifiable a further exploitation of Nigerians with the intention to increase electricity tariff come February 1st, 2016.
Justifying the need for the rejection of the new tariff they said due process was not followed in line with Section 76 of the Power Sector Reform Act, 2005.
Besides, they said there has been no significant improvement in service delivery just as they accused the DISCOs of reneging on the memorandum of understanding in which the latter promised to provide meters to al electricity consumers but failed to do so.
Subsequently, they hinted that the labour unions will as a matter of necessity mobilise all Nigerians to resist the new tariff by embarking on mass protest and picketing of all DISCOs’ offices nationwide.
Read also: BPE under fire over questionable sale of power projects
“We direct all consumers to reject any bill with the new tariff and so many other actions we may deem necessary.”
It may be recalled that Yemi-Adebiyi who had taken the NERC to court got an order by the Federal High Court in Lagos to stop it from further increasing its tariff, said the injunction granted by Justice Ibrahim Idris against any increment was subsisting and had not been discharged.
Justice Idris made the order on May 28 restraining NERC from increasing tariff in June. The judge later restated the order, saying it subsists until the substantive matter is decided.
RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...