By Our Reporters
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said on Monday that it would not relent in its agitation for a reverse of the increase in electricity tariff until government listened and acted.
Sokoto State Chairman of NLC, Mr Aminu Muhammad, stated this during the nationwide peaceful protest against the 45 per cent increase in electricity tariff which took effect from February 1.
The protest by the organised labour and civil society organisations took place across the country.
Muhammad, who led officials of the union to picket the office of the Kaduna Electric Company, said the organised labour would do all things within the confine of the law to ensure their demands were met.
“We are out to conduct a peaceful protest and ensure we picket all the electricity offices across Sokoto to send the message from the masses to the government.
“This picketing organised by NLC became necessary to ensure that the present administration withdraws the exploitative tariff.
“The labour congress will ensure it passes the message to the government, to ensure that the tariff increase is withdrawn,’’ he said.
Also, members of NLC locked the premises of Port-Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom
The Akwa Ibom state Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr Akamba Awah, said TUC and NLC believed that there was no rationale behind the increase.
The union leader argued that there was no reason for the hike, adding that the state has Ibom Power Plant producing gas for electricity.
According to him, electricity is subsidised in Akwa Ibom by the state government.
Reacting in a telephone interview, the Public Relations Officer to PHEDC, Mr John Onyi, said that the company had invited labour for a meeting.
He said that as soon as the issue was resolved at the headquarters, all the state offices of the organisation would resume work immediately.
In Ado-Ekiti, NLC and TUC members also picketed the state headquarters of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company, (BEDC) over the issue.
The workers who were chanting anti-government songs, carried placards containing various anti-government inscriptions throughout the 30 minutes period the protest lasted.
The protesters vacated the area on sighting the police and members of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
The protest also took place in Makurdi with union leaders assuring that they would vehemently resist the increased electricity tariff in the country.
The organised labour lamented that the decision to step up the tariff was taken without recourse to critical stakeholder in the business of electricity consumption.
In Benin, the Edo State Chairman of NLC, Emmanuel Ademokun, accused the distribution companies of disobeying a court order which he said ordered a stay of action on the increase.
“We are here on picketing as directed by the national body of the TUC, NLC and the civil society organisations, against the electricity tarrif increase.
“The civil societies, pensioners and market women are here with us. It is a fight for everybody; it is not a fight for only the workers.
He said the organised labour would continue to kick against the action until they reverse the decision.
The labour movement in Gombe also picketed the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JED) in reaction to the increase.
Haruna Kamara, chairman, NLC Gombe, called on NERC to reverse the 45 per cent increase in tariff.
The organised labour in Kano was also not left behind in the peaceful protest.
Kabiru Minjibir, the Kano state chairman of NLC, who presented a protest letter to the Special Adviser on Labour Matters, Isah Danguguwa, expressed concern over the tariff increase.
“We consider the increase in the electricity tariff as illegal and unjustifiable.
“There is no significant improvement in the power supply. The increase does not consider the current economic situation in the country,” he said.
The Special Adviser assured the labour that the letter would be forwarded to the governor for onward submission to President Muhammadu Buhari.
In Ilorin, the protest was led by the Chairman of the Kwara chapter of the NLC, Alhaji Abdul Yekini Agunbiade and the state Chairman of the Trade Union (TUC), Mr Kolawole Olumoh.
Hundreds of protesters picketed the office of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company in the state capital.
The TUC Chairman, Mr Kolawole Olumo, said there had not been any quality service delivery to justify the new increase.
He called on federal government to find a lasting solution to the issue of epileptic power supply in the country.
At the head office of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) in Imo State, the protesters, as early as 7a.m., padlocked the gate to the company preventing entry into the premises.
At the office located at No. 1, Royce Road, Owerri, a banner with the inscription, “Organised labour says no to hike in electricity tariff; provide us with prepaid meters, not estimated bills’’, was tied to the gate.
Austin Chilakpu, the state NLC chairman, said the reason for the action was to make known their displeasure over the recent hike in electricity tariff.
“What NLC is doing in Imo today is also taking place in the other 36 states and Abuja.
“We call for this protest following the recent hike in the electricity tariff by 43 per cent and the continued issuing of estimated bills to customers,’’ he said.
Chilakpu recalled that after privatisation of PHCN, the new owners assured that before any increase in tariff, they would make prepaid meters available to consumers.
“Regrettably, since they took over, the prepaid meters have not been supplied; they only stay back in their offices and issue estimated bills to customers.
“There is no form of corruption like what is going on in the distribution companies, and it is very painful that this is going on while the federal government is fighting corruption,’’ he said.
The NLC chairman also said that the increase was in disobedience to an existing order of a Lagos High Court.
Also in Calabar, Cross River, the NLC locked out workers of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC).
Mr John Ushie, chairman of NLC in the state said that the action became necessary in order to stop the uncompromising attitude of the distribution companies towards the plight of Nigerians.
According to him, allowing the hike will cause more hardship and increase the spate of criminality in the country.
`If there is an increase in petrol, you pay and you see what you are buying.
“In the case of electricity, we do not know what we are buying and what we are paying for.
“There is no light and even when there is light we are having a candle-like kind of light, yet they have gone ahead to increase tariff.
“We are here this morning to say no to that.
“This picketing is just for one day and after today, if the federal government and the companies do not budge, we will declare a total lock down of the sector,’’ he said.
In Abakaliki, Ebonyi, the story is not different, as the labour also shut down the head office of the EEDC in Abakaliki.
Chanting various protest songs, the workers besieged the head office of the distribution company as early as 8a.m.
The workers were led in the protest by the NLC State Chairman, Mr. Ikechukwu Nwafor and hisTUC counterpart, Mr Elias Oduma.
Speaking to news men, Nwafor said that due process was not followed in consonance with section 78 of Power Reform Act.
“The government has not followed the right way and due process was not adopted.
“We say no to this and as such the increment should be reversed with immediate effect.
“Conditions for metering was not followed, Nigerians are not slaves to anybody, we will resist it with everything within us,’’ he said.
Also speaking, Oduma said that most consumers were not metered in line with the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on privatization signed on Nov. 1, 2013.
According to him, the agreement stipulates that within 18 months gestation period, all consumers are to be metered.
The Adamawa branch of the Nigeria Labour Congress also joined the nationwide protest against the electricity tariff increment.
Protesters barricaded the Yola Electricity Distribution Company in the state capital.
Dauda Maina, state Chairman of NLC, said that the protest was to tell the government and the energy companies that they oppose the new tariff.
Maina stated that the tariff increment was an exploitation that would create additional hardship on Nigerians.
“The new tariff is an indirect way of exploiting the consumers.
“We are of the view that the fixed charges earlier withdrawn should be sustained and the tariff should also be reverted to the status quo,” Maina said.
Reacting to the protest, Mr. Kingsley Nkemneme, Senior Corporate Communications Officer of the YEDC said that the reviewed tariff was done in the interest of the consumers and the Nigerian power sector.
“What was obtainable before now is not a cost reflective figure that will improve the power sector.
He said that the main component of the reviewed tariff was the removal of the fixed charges and that the new tariff was “pay as you go.”
Workers in Kwara State also sealed off premises of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC).
NLC, led by the State Chairman, Yekini Agunbiade, arrived the Challenge office of the IBEDC on Muritala Mohammed Road, Ilorin about 8.45am and chased away workers that had reported for work.
Agunbiade told newsmen that the decision to picket the company was taken at the NEC meeting of the Congress in Abuja on January 29, 2016.
He said NLC passed a resolution to reject any form of increment of electricity tariff in the country.
The NLC chairman said that the picketing was a warning to IBEDC to stop the increment and revert to the old tariff.
Agunbiade said electricity distribution companies should not increase tariff until electricity was stabilized in the country so that consumers would know that they are paying for services rendered.
He accused the Minister of Works and Energy, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), of flouting court order by going ahead to announce increment in the tariff.
The NLC boss said that a case was pending before Justice Yemi Adebiyi of an Abuja High Court challenging the decision of the minister to increase tariff.
He said many houses in the state had no meters, “but IBEDC just bring crazy bills to such houses every month.’’
According to Agunbiade, the situation in the country did not favour any increment in electricity tariff as the majority of the masses are suffering from the harsh economic situation.
“In Kwara, for example, people find it very difficult to eat good food, many of them are living in abject poverty, salaries are not paid, so to pay the new tariff will be difficult for them,” he said.
According to him, masses in the country are suffering due to economic hardship Nigeria is facing, adding that Fashola should not compound the suffering by increasing tariff on electricity.
Agunbiade, therefore, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to wade into the matter and rescue the masses from the obnoxious tariff increment.
TUC Chairman in the state, Mr Kolawole Olumoh, led the protest to Baboko Business Unit of the IBEDC to picket workers there.
The protest, which lasted for almost five hours, featured various solidarity songs condemning the new electricity tariff.
NLC officials displayed many placards with various inscriptions such as: increase in tariff is not the answer, drop the idea, and we can’t pay more for sick light.
Others are: Stop your crazy bill, it is an act of corruption”, “Give us 24 hours uninterrupted light” and “Oga Fashola, Nigeria as a nation is not Lagos as a state, think twice”
The rest were: Provide pre-payment meters for every house” and “Put necessary equipment in place to serve us better.”
Some electricity consumers who spoke to NAN expressed their support for the NLC action and appealed to federal government to revert the situation.
A book vendor in Challenge, Mr Chimezie Anyanwu said he was in full in support of the NLC action because IBEDC cannot justify any reason for the increase in tariff.
He said electricity supply had remained epileptic and at times his area would be in darkness for up to two weeks.
According to him, before IBEDC or any electricity distribution company can talk of increasing tariff, electricity must be stable, regular and bright.
A civil servant, who did not want her name mentioned, appealed to NLC to do something about minimum wage of workers in the country.
She said that though NLC’s action was commendable, its leadership at the national level should start agitating for the upward review of the minimum wage of workers in the country.
According to her, the last review of minimum wage was six years ago, adding that another one was due and appealed to NLC to pursue the interests of Nigerian workers.
The Plateau State chairman of NLC, Mr Banshir Jibrin, says the hike in electricity tariff is unfair to the poor Nigerian battling to survive harsh economic conditions.
Jibrin, leading other union members to picket offices of the Jos Electricity Distribution Company in Jos on Monday, described the new tariff regime as very costly.
He said the distribution companies were only interested in hiking tariffs and imposing outrageous, estimated bills on those without pre-payment meters, rather than providing adequate electricity to the masses.
The labour leader said that the unions were out to register their grievances against government’s insistence to hike the tariff.
“There has to be adequate supply of power and their billing must conform to global standards; they must provide readable meters so as to ascertain consumption,”
“Picketing is to caution the Discos to retrace their steps; if they fail, we will embark on mass action, which will further close them down.”
He disclosed that all Nigerians were affected adversely by the hike, as the energy sector was key to everyone
The labour leader contended that the price of goods and services would soon go up as a result of the hike in tariff.
Similarly, Mr Aluko Daniel, Chairman, Civil Society of Organisations of Nigeria (CSON), Plateau chapter, said all sectors of the economy had been over taxed.
“What we are saying as Nigerians is that we want to enforce change and the change stays at all levels”, he said.
