UPDATED: Workers Picket DisCo Offices Nationwide Over High Electricity Tariffs

Members of the Organised Labour, on Monday morning, trooped out en mass on the joint directive of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), to picket the offices of National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and power distribution companies (DisCos) in their respective State capital cities.

The action was to protest the recent increase in electricity tariffs approved by the regulator, NERC.

Report from Kano State showed that the state’s chapter of NLC picketed the headquarters of the Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) and the office of NERC in Kano.

NLC Assistant Secretary, Abbas Ibrahim, said the action followed the recent increase in electricity tariffs, which he said was not acceptable to the workers.

Ibrahim revealed that the picketing was being carried out throughout the country by NLC with a demand for a reversal of the tariffs.

Also, protesting workers under the auspices of the NLC and TUC in Oyo State, on Monday, stormed the headquarters of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), calling on the federal government to stop the new electricity tariff.

The protest was in line with the directive from the national bodies of the labour unions, which had threatened to picket the DisCos and Gencos over the new tariff.

The Oyo State NLC was led by its chairman, Comrade Kayode Martin, while TUC was led by its vice chairman, Comrade Ranti Wemimo.

The situation is the same in Abakaliki in Ebonyi State; Jos, the headquarters of Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC) in Plateau State; Akure in Ondo State, and Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, where NLC/TUC members besieged offices of either DisCos or NERC to express their grievance over the increment in the electricity tariffs.