Labour body urges NERC, DISCOs to obey court order

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has urged the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) and electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) to comply with a federal court judgment which ordered it to revert to old tariff regime.

The Chairman of the NLC in Anambra, Mr Jerry Nnubia, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka on Monday.

NAN reports that Justice Ibrahim Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos, on July 13, stopped the agency from implementing the proposed 45 per cent hike in electricity tariff.

Nnubia, who welcomed the judgment as a relief for the people, said the call became necessary because the subsisting court order of May 2015 against the increase was not obeyed.

"It is a welcome development; the court order restraining NERC and DISCOs from increasing traffic until right things are done, is in tandem with natural justice.

"We protested against the hike because we cannot pay higher for services that are not rendered and there were no consultations, the DISCOs are not supplying power because the generation level has gone down.

"The Federal Government, through NERC, cannot be above the law; we are worried about the level of disobedience to the law.

"We want the court order against this increase to be obeyed,” he said.

He called for the development of effective electricity infrastructure in the country and training of personnel to boost efficiency in the sector.

Nnubia particularly called on the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) to distribute prepaid meters and supply power to its customers in the southeast, especially Anambra regularly.

"There is nothing to describe the epileptic power supply in Anambra by the EEDC and that is the report we get about the other DISCOs.

"Even after the tariff increase, nothing changed for better, so why should we be paying for darkness?

"Let them enhance service delivery and with proper consultations, the increase may be permissible,” he said.