The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero has urged the Federal Government to shelved the propose plan of increasing electricity tariff by July 1.
He made the disclosure in a statement titled “Shelve this tariff hike”released in Abuja on Thursday, June 22.
According to him, the plan to increase electricity tariff by 40 per cent by July 1, would further compound the current hardship of ordinary Nigerians who are still battling with the increase in cost of living due to the recent removal of Fuel subsidy.
“The massive increase is explained away as a response to the over 100 per cent increase in the pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS). Details reveal a movement in inflation from 16.9 per cent to 22.41 (threatening to needle 30), and a shift in exchange rate from N441 to N750. We believe not even these figures are a justification for this proposed tariff increase.
The issue of capacity to pay and quality of service delivery are not only germane but superior to any rationalisation by market logic. Service providers inspite of sundry support have not been able to meet the threshold of 5,000 megawatts,” he said.
The NLC president argued that the proposed hike would lead to a ripple effect by other product or service providers in the country.
He said, “We would want to advise ‘Apostles of the Market’ who have called NLC all sorts of names to check their conscience. The rate at which they are going is highly combative and combustible,”
He called for more novel interventions to cushion the effect of these tariff hikes on majority of Nigerians.
“In light of this, our advice is that this proposed tariff hike should be shelved for our collective safety.”