During Monday’s meeting, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) demanded that the federal government remove the band A power pricing before union negotiations could begin.
A revised power rate for band A users was approved by the Nigerian power Regulatory Commission (NERC) on April 3.
From N68/kwh to N125/kwh, that was the change.
But National Labor Congress president Joe Ajaero demanded a return to the “status-quo before any negotiation with the workers” while addressing the Federal Ministry of Power.
Chief Adebayo Adelabu, the minister of power, dispatched Alhaji Mamudan Mamman, the permanent secretary, in his absence since he supposedly attended a meeting of the Federal Executive Council.
He informed the unions that were protesting that the minister was going to ask the workers to negotiate the price because the National Assembly had intervened.
The negotiation may be under pressure, Ajaero responded, unless both parties return to the previous state before engaging.
“You have to go back to the status quo even before you engage us,” Ajaero says. So that we can all avoid feeling pressured during negotiations, and you can take it from there. However, it is not acceptable to have us meet at band Z and band A to have a discussion.
In his earlier remarks, he hinted that if the government does not return to the former band A rate in a week, the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) would be ordered to cut electricity supply nationally.