The Nigeria Labour Congress NLC and the Trade Union Congress has on Monday stage a Nationwide protest against the recent electricity tariff hike and demand a reverse of the decision.
In Plateau state, the Labour leaders picketed the offices of Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC), where they locked up the gates and prevented staff from gaining access into the offices thereby disrupting operations.
Speaking to newsmen at the gate of the headquarters of the Jos Electricity Distribution Company along Rwang Pam Street in Jos, the Plateau State capital, the State Chairman of NLC, Comrade Eugene Manji said they want the Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to reverse back to status quo.
According to him, the regulatory body increase the tariff for more than 300 percent without the consent of the Organised Labour and they went ahead to segregate the distributions into Bans within the same country.
“We are saying no to that, even with the position they have reach now, they should reverse it back to status quo. Lets go back and negotiate first. And we are standing on behalf of the Organised Labour and then the masses of this country.
“We are saying no to this capitalist system that they are trying to enforce on to Nigerians. We must survive, we have other things to live on. We are not just going to carry our income to pay for electricity. We have the health to live on, we have education to live on, we have food, transportation and so on to live on.” Comrade Eugene added.
On his part, the state Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC) Comrade Kenneth Shammah, said in few days they would shutdown transmission from the transmission point if nothing is done about it.
“Because we are in control of this. They should know this, it is the workers that own this things, is not them. They are just business men, they don’t care about anybody.
“This is just a way to milk the whole nation. When we had NEPA, we knew how they were doing. Imagine, a transformer will have problem and a privatized company would ask you to buy transformer. Where is it done? You have problem with your pole, a privatized company would ask you to buy. We are not talking about these things. Lets go back to the days when it is owned by Government and know that Government is responsible for this.” He added.
The Organised Labour in Plateau State also took their protest to all offices of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC) over the increase in electricity tariff across the country.
