Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has said that the reversal of the hike in electricity tariff will be a setback for the transformation of the energy sector to boost supply to Nigerians.
He appealed to the National Labour Congress to see reason with the government.
Labour on Monday organised a one-day protest and picketed the office of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in Abuja and those of the distribution companies (DisCos) across the country.
Adelabu, who spoke to reporters at Aso Villa after the two-day Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, assured Labour that the demands placed before the government were being considered.
He said: “I don’t want us to go back to the situation we were in February and March when we had very low generation. We all felt the impact of this whereby the electricity supply was very low and every household, every company, and every institution, felt it. From the little reform that we’ve embarked upon since the beginning of April, we have seen the impact that electricity has improved and it can only get better.
“My appeal is that they should please not derail or distract our transformation plan for the industry. We have a documented reform roadmap to take us to our desired destination, where we’re going to have reliable, functional, cost-effective and affordable electricity in Nigeria. It cannot be achieved overnight because this is a decay of almost 60 years, which we are trying to correct.
“Nobody promised us or assured us that the road will be smooth. We knew it was going to be rough, but we must weather the storm, which is going to be temporary.
“It requires a lot of sacrifice from everybody; from the government’s side, from the people’s side, from the private sector side. So, we must bear this sacrifice for us to have a permanent gain.”
