Nigeria

Goodnews as FG, labour agree cut in electricity tariff for Nigerians

Tuesday, October 13, 2020 at 11:13 AM by Oluwatobi Bolashodun

- For the next three months, labour unions and the federal government have agreed to cut electricity tariff for Nigerians

- The resolution was arrived at on Monday, October 12, at the end of a long meeting between the organised labour and the Nigerian government

- Key resolutions reached include provision of a tariff relief package of about N10.20 per kilowatt-hour and free distribution of prepaid metres

PAY ATTENTION: Win a prize of N115,000, N75000 or N38000: participate in Big Naija Independence contest by Legit.ng

Following the massive outrage over the new electricity tariff, the federal government and labour unions have agreed to temporarily subsidise the tariff for the next three months.

The resolution was reached at the end of a long meeting of the ad-hoc technical committee on electricity tariff between representatives of the federal government, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

This was made known in a communique released by the minister of state for labour and employment, Festus Keyamo, in a series of tweets via his Twitter account @fkeyamo on Monday, October 12.

Read also

This is when ASUU will call-off strike - Good news emerges as body, FG finally agree

According to Keyamo, labour unions and the Nigerian government agreed to use proceeds from the Value Added Tax (VAT) to temporarily subsidize electricity tariffs.

Labour, govt agree on three months subsidy on electricity tariff for consumers — The Nigerian government and organized labour have agreed subsidise electricity tariff for consumers. Photo credit: fkeyamo.
Source: Twitter

The minister went on to note that other resolutions adopted by the committee include the provision of a tariff relief package of about N10.20 per kilowatt-hour for Nigerians.

Other key resolutions are the provision of six million free meters to Nigerians, salary protection for electricity workers, a mandatory refund for any over-billing during system transition by the Discos, and monthly publication by NERC of allowed billing of unmetered customers, etc.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigeria’s #1 news app

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the federal government extended the suspension of the implementation of the electricity tariff hike by another week.

This latest move by the Nigerian government was announced on Monday, October 12, by the chairperson of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), James Jimoh.