NLC slams Federal Govt over increase in electricity tariff

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, yesterday criticised the Federal Government over the incessant review of electricity charges, stressing that the current N700 tariff is outrageous. The tariff, which was N225, was recently increased to over N700.


In a statement signed by its President, Comrade Abdulwahed Omar, the union maintained that the increase negated whatever gains expected to be recorded by the much vaunted reform in the power sector.

Omar said that the multi-year tariff structure as designed by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, and tacitly approved by government only protects the interest of investors in the power sector and as such had little or no consideration for consumers, most of whom are poor and incapable of paying.

The statement reads in part: “It is exploitative and saddening that these mindless reviews are not accompanied by commensurate improved services. If anything, electricity service delivery has plummeted over the years, with consumers compelled to pay exorbitant tariff rates for incompetence, poor service and fraud.

“Judging from the yearly percentage increase (which covers a fifteen year period in the first instance), it is predictable that less than ten percent of the present consumers will be able to pay these outrageous tariffs in the next few years.