Members and leaders of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC) and other affiliate labour unions in Lagos state are currently picketing the head office of Ikeja Electric today.
The action led to the shutdown of the company’s premises to any activities.
The reason for the industrial action according to members and leaders of the various labour unions present is the recent hike in electricity tariff by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) which is being implemented by electricity distribution companies across the country.
Speaking on the development, a labour leader, Francis Igbokwe from the Railway Workers Union stated that the reason for the protest was the over 200% hike in electricity tariff and further called on the relevant authorities to reverse the hike.
According to him, the classification of places according to bands is discriminatory and meant to divide Nigerians on the need to oppose the policy in unison.
Nigerians’ income too low to support electricity tariff hike
Nairametrics was also informed that other members and leaders of the various Labour unions involved in the industrial action were carrying out similar activity at the office of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in Lagos.
Also, Francis Adeoye, a member of the Nigeria Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) lamented that no average Nigerian afford the current system of discriminatory electricity tariffs. He explained that the income of the average Nigerian is too low to afford an over 200% hike in electricity tariff.
Earlier on Friday, Nairametrics reported that the National Labour Congress (NLC) ordered its members across the country to picket the offices of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the power distribution companies (DisCos) on Monday (today) due to the recent hike in electricity tariffs for Band A customers.
In April, Nairametrics reported that NERC approved a hike in the electricity rates for consumers categorized under Band A.
This is contained in a press statement by the Vice Chairman of NERC Musliu Oseni.