The Federal Government will next week hold a crucial meeting to address the demands by organised labour for the restoration of the power subsidy and the reversal of the hike in electricity tariff.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Power, Mrs Florence Eke, disclosed this hours after the labour unions disrupted activities at the ministry in Abuja, on Monday.

However, organised labour has threatened to continue with the protest indefinitely, stressing that it might take drastic action should the government fail to reverse the tariff hike.

The protests paralysed activities at the Federal Ministry of Power, and the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission and also disrupted the operations of the distribution companies across the country.

The nationwide protests were triggered by the Federal Government’s decision to raise electricity tariffs and remove the subsidy from the power sector.

The NERC announced the hike in the electricity tariff for Band A customers at a press briefing in Abuja on April 3, revealing that those affected would pay N225 per kilowatt-hour, up from the previous rate of N68/kWh.

The hike represented a 240 per cent increase.

development marked the removal of subsidy from the tariff of customers in the Band A category, who constituted about 15 per cent of the total 12.82 million power consumers across the country.

Based on the tariff hike, the Federal Government said it would save N1.5tn.

The government stated that the decision took effect on April 3, 2024, adding that Band A customers would enjoy up to 20 hours of power supply daily.

The Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria had earlier given the NERC until May 12, to reverse the hike or face labour action.

Speaking to one of our correspondents on the moves to contain the protests, the spokesperson for the power ministry, Eke, said that the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Mamman Mahmuda, acknowledged the National Union of Electricity Employees’ concerns regarding the lack of sufficient consultation before the implementation of the new tariffs.

She said the ministry was committed to transparency and would engage in a comprehensive dialogue with all relevant parties to discuss the issues raised.

“The union was at the Power House today and they were addressed by the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Power. He assured that the ministry would call for a stakeholder meeting by next week where all issues will be addressed because one of the points they raised was that there was not enough consultation before the tariff was increased. The permanent secretary said as policymakers, the ministry would invite the stakeholders by next week,’’ she said.

But unimpressed, the unions issued a one-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to reverse the new electricity tariff.

The National Treasurer of the NLC, Hakeem Ambali, told the newsmen that the Monday protest was a one-day event, adding that should the government fail to reverse the tariff hike, the unions would embark on “a full-blown action.’’

“The protest is a one-day warning action. If after a week nothing happens, labour will go into full action,’’ he warned.

In the same vein, the First National Deputy President of the TUC, Tommy Etim, said there would not be any engagement with the government until the tariff hike is reversed.

“We have passed our message across and we are sure that they have heard us. However, before we have any engagement with any stakeholder, the current hike must be reversed totally. That is our demand.”

Addressing protesters and the NERC management at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja earlier, the President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, said Nigerians were wallowing in power poverty given the abysmal low supply of electricity.

Ajaero noted that the electricity supply generated by Nigeria was not even enough for Lagos which is just one state in Nigeria.

He also faulted the move by the NERC to hike tariffs without engagements with stakeholders in the power sector.

He said, “We are here on a peaceful protest having written so many letters to NERC to remind them (NERC management) that they cannot increase tariffs without meeting with Nigerians. We reminded them that the process of increasing tariffs requires that they meet with all stakeholders including labour.

“We do not know where this current tariff is coming from. NERC is not oblivious to the fact that Nigeria is wallowing in poverty. Nigeria is down the line as one of the countries in the world that are poor in terms of power supply.

“What Nigeria is generating today is not enough for Lagos alone and it is bad enough for you now to tell us that some Nigerians are bigger than the others. It is bad enough for you to say some Nigerians will get 20 hours while other Nigerians will get two hours.”

The NLC president challenged the commission to tell Nigerians the power plant it planned to construct before the end of the year, noting that the Mambilla plant could generate over 3,600 MW of electricity if functional.

He further said that the NERC could not continue to charge tariffs without availability and accessibility to power, adding that the commission was creating inflation.

END.