NLC Strike: Labour Calls Off Planned Strike As FG Suspends New Electricity Tariff For Two Weeks

By Amirah Kuale Last updated Sep 28, 2020

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has suspended its planned nationwide strike that was scheduled to start today, Monday, September 28, in protest against the hike in the price of fuel and electricity tariff.

NLC and Trade Union Congress (TUC) suspended the action after brokering an agreement with the federal government over the electricity tariff and petrol price hikes.

The suspension was contained in a communique jointly signed by labour leaders and the Federal Government representatives, and read by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, at the end of the meeting that lasted about seven hours.

According to the communique, a technical committee comprising labour leaders, government agencies and ministries will in two weeks look into issues concerning the recent electricity tariff hike so as to validate;

The basis for the new cost-reflective tariff as a result of the conflicting information from the fields which appeared different from the data presented to justify the new policy by NERC; metering deployment, challenges, timeline for massive rollout.

During the two weeks, the DISCOs shall suspend the application of the cost-reflective electricity tariff adjustments.

It stated;

An all-inclusive and independent review of the power sector operations as provided in the privatization MoU to be undertaken before the end of the year 2020, with labour represented.

All parties agreed on the urgency for increasing the local refining capacity of the nation to reduce the overdependency on importation of petroleum products to ensure energy security, reduce cost of finished products, increase employment and business opportunities for Nigerians.

The labour unions and the government also agreed on rehabilitating the nation’s refineries to reduce the cost of petrol.

Ayuba Wabba, NLC president; Qaudri Olaleye, TUC president, and Festus Keyamo, minister of state for labour and employment, among others, were at the meeting.