Members of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in their hundreds, on Monday, stormed the office of the Kano Electricity Distribution Company and shut down its operations in grievance over the recent power tariff hike across the country.
The organized Labour also picketed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, in Kano over the same matter.
The NLC also turned back workers of KEDCO and NERC who came to work Monday morning.
The aggrieved members of the NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, stood guard at the entrance of the KEDCO head office, chanting solidarity songs.
They were seen holding placards with various inscriptions such as “Stop Suffocating Us,” “Cut Down the Reckless Cost of Governance,” and “The Poor Can No Longer Breathe,” among others.
Speaking on behalf of the union, the Chairperson of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, Mubarak Buba Yarima, lamented that the federal government has suffocated Nigerians with its policies.
Yarima demanded an urgent reversal of the hike in the electricity tariff, stressing that the union will not reopen the KIDCO and NERC offices until the government addresses all its demands.
The NLC also shut down the headquarters of the Jos Electricity Distribution Company, JEDC, in Plateau State on Monday over the electricity tariff hike.
The labour union blocked the main gate of the company, leaving the staff of the DisCo office, stranded outside the main building.
Security operatives, including the Police, Department of State Services, DSS, and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, were seen around the entrance of the company.
Both the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, had last week warned NERC and DisCos to immediately reverse the hike and stop the discriminatory practice on or before Sunday, May 12.
Giving an update on Sunday night, the head of information at NLC headquarters, Benson Upah, said in an official notification sent to journalists that members of the movement would converge at Labour House on Monday, to picket the NERC office in Abuja.
Upah, in the official notification sent to newsmen last night, said, “NLC invites you to cover the picketing of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission headquarters in Abuja,” said Benson.
He said a similar arrangement had been made nationwide.
