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The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Ayuba Wabba, has disclosed that the union would oppose the proposed increase in electricity tariff during its upcoming meeting with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission in Kano.
Wabba made this known to journalists on the sideline of the sixth Africa Social Partners Summit, which held in Lagos on Tuesday.
He insisted that increasing electricity tariff would not solve the challenge in the sector and would not bring about the much needed efficiency.
He said, “Many businesses can no longer accommodate tariff increase. They have been increasing tariff from the day the DISCOS and GENCOS were privatized.
“It is to tell you that there is inefficiency. Tariff increase cannot increase efficiency because they have increased tariff more than four times now. Has it improved efficiency in the system?
“We need to look at another model because it is high time for Nigeria to work against such exploitation.
“In some instances, there are no meters and even the meters that are provided go bad within a short time.
“The NERC have said they want to have a meeting with us and this is what we will tell them.”
On minimum wage compliance by states, he said the union had empowered all its state councils, Trade Union Congress, NLC and joint council, to declare industrial dispute whenever there is any resistance.
He said, “You have seen from one state to another, trade dispute has been declared, minimum wage agreement has been signed and the implementation has taken off.
“This has been the practice and tradition and this is what we are going to continue to do.
“Clearly speaking we are committed to it because we have seen that workers have been at the receiving end. Many workers have not fed their families; there have been many increases in taxes and tariffs that workers cannot accommodate.”
He noted that it was a law in Nigeria that anybody that did not implement the minimum wage as at when due was violating a fundamental national law, adding that political elite must also respect the law.
