The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, has promised that the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) will be engulfed by darkness, just as it has done to Nigerians by implementing a recent hike in electricity tariffs.
He made this statement during the NLC protest in Abuja on Monday, May 13.
The organised labour movement and its affiliate unions embarked on a nationwide protest on Monday, demanding a reversal of the hiked electricity tariff.
The protesters in Abuja marched from the NLC complex to NERC’s office, where the NERC chairman, Engr, addressed them. Sanusi Garba, who then promised that the commission would look into their grievance and that they would follow up with the DISCOs to make sure they were performing up to expectations.
The protesters then moved to the Ministry of Power and Transmission Company of Nigeria, where they forced the Ministry and the Transmission Company of Nigeria staff to vacate the premises.
“Na we get the power o! Now we are here at the office of the Minister of Power, and we are here at the office of the Transmission Company of Nigeria. If there are any workers still staying in the building, please can you come out and join us? Come out and join us, or we will join you,” the president of the NLC said while addressing staff of the Ministry of Power and TCN.
Addressing protesters at the Ministry of Power in Abuja, the NLC president said,
“We went to NERC, and I told them that NERC does not generate power; it is the workers that generate power, but they came up with a policy that will deprive Nigerian workers of power.
“How do you generate power and decide who gets what? How can you generate power and tell us some people get 20 hours and some get zero hours?”
He further added that “the NERC that came up with the policy that makes people stay in darkness will stay in darkness for the next one week.”
After what seemed like two hours of barricading the Ministry of Power, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Power, Mamudah Mamman, came out to address the protesters, informing them that the minister was not on the seat but that their complaints had been heard. He promised that by next week, they would have a round table conversation.
“By next week, we will call labour and all those concerned, and we will have a roundtable and find a solution,” he said.
This statement was met with a “Reverse it Now” chant from the protesters, who demanded that the tariff be reversed before any meeting.
He further noted that the National Assembly had, earlier on, mandated that the ministry and NERC work on the hiked tariff, as it is too much and the common man cannot bear it.
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