* FG agrees to put electricity tariff hike on hold
* To fix refineries by December 2021
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
Federal Government and organized labour have reached a deal on the contentious issues in the implementation of deregulation and electricity tariff hike.
Both sides ended their talks which began Sunday night with an agreement to retain the present price
At an emergency meeting convened by federal government to try to stave off national strike and protest, both sides reached agreement on the two key contentious issues, deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil and gas and electricity tariff adjustment.
Among the agreements reached after several hours of talks which ended in the wee hours of Monday, were palliative measures to cushion effects of the deregulation of the downstream sector, time line for revamping of refineries, suspension of newly introduced reflective cost regime in the electricity tariff.
In a communiqué signed by federal government side and labour representatives, it was agreed that based on the agreement that the strike and protest earlier scheduled for Monday be suspended.
Minister of Labour and Employment. Senator Chris Ngige who read the communiqué said that:
“Consequently, the NLC and TUC agreed to suspend the planned industrial action”.
The communique said that after exhaustive deliberations on the issues raised by Labour Centres, the federal government stated “that it has fashioned out palliatives that would ameliorate the sufferings that Nigerian workers may experience as a result of the cost – reflective Electricity Tariff adjustments and deregulation of the downstream sector of the Petroleum Industry. The palliatives will be in the areas of transport, power, housing, agriculture and humanitarian support”.
It said that after negotiations on various issues raised by all parties, the following resolutions were reached and mutually adopted:
On electricity tariff, the parties agreed to set up a Technical Committee comprising Ministries, Departments, Agencies, NLC and TUC, which will work for a duration of two (2) weeks effective Monday 28th September 2020,.
More details later…
