By Adeyinka Adeniran
Oyo State Chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), joined their counterparts across the country to pick offices of the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) over hike in electricity tariff.
Some of the offices picketed are NERC Iyaganku, IBEDC headquarters and regional headquarters Ring Road, Oluyole IBEDC Staff Development Centres in Oluyole, Iyaganku, IBEDC Dugbe, Transmission Company, Jericho and IBEDC Apata business units all in Ibadan.
The Unions demanded a total reversal of the tariff by the federal government or else the offices will be shut down until it’s request is acceded to.
The picketing action which was monitored by men and officer of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), witnessed members of staff of IBEDC being chased out of the buildings in line with directive of the national secretariat of the Unions.
The electricity tariff was astronomically hiked from N65/kwh to N225/Kwh by the Commission for Band A users.
Addressing the journalists in Ibadan, Oyo State NLC Chairman, Comrade Kayode Martins, disclosed that Nigerians can not continue to live in suffering, saying that they are tired of inhuman policies of the federal government.
He said the picketing is just to pass a message to the IBEDC and NERC as regards the hike in the tariff of electricity, noting that Nigerians are already facing epileptic power supply and paying for what they are not enjoying.
He said, “We are fed up of inhuman policies being rolled out by our leaders, as of today, to live in Nigeria has become a crime, we find it difficult to relate with other countries, now we are enslaved in our father’s land. Sometimes ago, federal government removed subsidy on everything making life unbearable for Nigeria citizens.”
