The Federal Government has again suspended the implementation of the new electricity tariffs for one week.
Earlier, the government had suspended the take-off date of the tariffs by two weeks after it held a meeting with the organized labour.
The resolution was made on Sunday during a meeting with the FG team led by Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the leadership of the Nigeria Labor Congress and the Trade Union Congress.
The negotiation took place at the Presidential Villa Banquet Hall, Abuja. The resolution on the electricity tariff hike was adopted by the ad-hoc technical committee on October 8. This included an agreement on a work plan for the implementation of same. They also agreed to distribute one million meters to bridge the metering gap in the country.
The distribution is expected to commence this week in furtherance of the Acceleration of National Mass Metering Program. The program is expected to distribute a total of 6 million meters to Nigerians free of charge based on the funding by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The cost of the meters will be recovered from the electricity distribution companies.
The meeting also agreed that the meters should be procured through local meter manufacturers and assemblers.
The statement was read by Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour which stated that ‘the two-week extension for electricity tariffs which expired this week will be extended by another one week.’
The parties agreed to reduce the tariffs by 10 percent for band A, 10.5 percent for band B and 31 per cent for band C.
Peace Omenka