Labour rejects new electricity tariffs
THE labour movement has rejected the upward review of electricity tariffs by the Federal Government.
Yesterday too, commercial activities at the Shiroro Hydro Electricity Dam were yesterday brought to a standstill as the National Union of Electricity Employee protested against what they called the decision of the Federal Government to retire them under the new pension scheme instead of the old one as contained in the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) condition of service.
Conveying labour’s perspective yesterday at a meeting with the Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, his Labour and Productivity counterpart, Emeka Wogu and the Chairman, Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, President of Trade Union Congress (TUC) Peter Esele declared that Nigerians could not pay for illegality that the increase represented.
His words: “ One of the issues also has to do with the political leadership; sometimes they put the cat before the horse. NERC says it wants to make meters available for everybody so that we start paying for what we consume. And he said in 18 months. My question is, if right now I am not paying for what I consume, you are saying that I will continue to pay illegally 18 months before the meters are available?”
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) was absent at the meeting as it strives to restructure its secretariat. Its President, Abdulwahed Omar was not only absent, no representation was sent by the labour centre.
During the meeting, Amadi had assured that in the next 12 to 18 months, the power distribution companies would supply meters to most electricity consumers in the country.
The NERC’s boss explained that what was planned to take effect on June 1 was an adjustment in the tariff, which would make the poor pay less.
The poor in the electricity context, according to Amadi, are the least consumers of power. According to him, the rich and poor have nothing to do with their geographical location but the kilowatts of electricity they consume, which graduate them from one class to another.
This argument failed to persuade Esele, who accused government of reneging on previous agreements upon which several billions of naira were expended.
He queried the rationale behind adjusting the tariff in the face of erratic power supply.
The PHCN protesters accused Nnaji of insensitivity and high handedness in the handling of the entire affair as it affects the proposed retirement of the PHCN workers.
The workers, who lamented the alleged plan by the Federal Government to forcefully retire them under the new pension scheme, said that they were ready to go if government paid their retirement benefits under the old pension arrangement, adding that they were not against privatisation of the company as alleged by the government.
The Chairman of the union, Mallam Nagwa Mohammed, stated that most of them had been told to go but nothing had been said about their benefits, rather they were being told to go and register with the Pension Commission (PENCOM) “which we see as an aberration as that is not what was contained in PHCN condition of service.”
Besides, the relationship between the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) seems to have hit the rock finally.
Reason: despite several efforts to manage the complaints about alleged deductions from staff pension, the bubble has burst.
As such, government has turned to NLC to assist it to trace the pension fund of workers.
A statement from the Ministry of power yesterday entitled “ Where are the PHCN Superannuation Fund Collections?” sought the assistance of the NLC to help government trace the whereabouts of PHCN workers’ contributions which the congress asked government to pay within seven days or face a nationwide strike.
Yesterday too, commercial activities at the Shiroro Hydro Electricity Dam were yesterday brought to a standstill as the National Union of Electricity Employee protested against what they called the decision of the Federal Government to retire them under the new pension scheme instead of the old one as contained in the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) condition of service.
Conveying labour’s perspective yesterday at a meeting with the Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, his Labour and Productivity counterpart, Emeka Wogu and the Chairman, Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, President of Trade Union Congress (TUC) Peter Esele declared that Nigerians could not pay for illegality that the increase represented.
His words: “ One of the issues also has to do with the political leadership; sometimes they put the cat before the horse. NERC says it wants to make meters available for everybody so that we start paying for what we consume. And he said in 18 months. My question is, if right now I am not paying for what I consume, you are saying that I will continue to pay illegally 18 months before the meters are available?”
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) was absent at the meeting as it strives to restructure its secretariat. Its President, Abdulwahed Omar was not only absent, no representation was sent by the labour centre.
During the meeting, Amadi had assured that in the next 12 to 18 months, the power distribution companies would supply meters to most electricity consumers in the country.
The NERC’s boss explained that what was planned to take effect on June 1 was an adjustment in the tariff, which would make the poor pay less.
The poor in the electricity context, according to Amadi, are the least consumers of power. According to him, the rich and poor have nothing to do with their geographical location but the kilowatts of electricity they consume, which graduate them from one class to another.
This argument failed to persuade Esele, who accused government of reneging on previous agreements upon which several billions of naira were expended.
He queried the rationale behind adjusting the tariff in the face of erratic power supply.
The PHCN protesters accused Nnaji of insensitivity and high handedness in the handling of the entire affair as it affects the proposed retirement of the PHCN workers.
The workers, who lamented the alleged plan by the Federal Government to forcefully retire them under the new pension scheme, said that they were ready to go if government paid their retirement benefits under the old pension arrangement, adding that they were not against privatisation of the company as alleged by the government.
The Chairman of the union, Mallam Nagwa Mohammed, stated that most of them had been told to go but nothing had been said about their benefits, rather they were being told to go and register with the Pension Commission (PENCOM) “which we see as an aberration as that is not what was contained in PHCN condition of service.”
Besides, the relationship between the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) seems to have hit the rock finally.
Reason: despite several efforts to manage the complaints about alleged deductions from staff pension, the bubble has burst.
As such, government has turned to NLC to assist it to trace the pension fund of workers.
A statement from the Ministry of power yesterday entitled “ Where are the PHCN Superannuation Fund Collections?” sought the assistance of the NLC to help government trace the whereabouts of PHCN workers’ contributions which the congress asked government to pay within seven days or face a nationwide strike.
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