Electricity tariff hike: Don’t breach agreement, Labour tells FG – Newstrends
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Electricity tariff hike: Don’t breach agreement, Labour tells FG

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Ayuba Wabba

The Organised Labour has urged the Federal Government not to flout the agreement entered with the FGN-Labour Committee on Electricity Tariff to freeze further increase of electricity tariff.

The President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Ayuba Wabba, gave the warning in a statement on Friday, in Abuja

Wabba said that the organised labour was committed to the freezing of further increase in electricity tariff.

According to him, the attention of the NLC has been drawn to a report in one of the dailies on September 21 that the electricity tariff would rise by over a hundred per cent from January 2022.

“The story was purportedly distilled from the remarks of the Special Adviser to the President on Infrastructure at the stakeholders’ engagement of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) held in Lagos on September17.

“To be charitable, Congress had received a refutation of the newspaper report from the Special Adviser and Secretary of the FGN-Labour Committee on Electricity Tariff earlier on September 21.

“He also apprised Congress leadership that he had been contacted by some other newspapers between September 8 and September 20 for confirmation of the story and that he categorically debunked the basis and essence of the attributed statement.

“To quote the Special Adviser, ‘the press article and statements ascribed to me did not emanate from me or my office,” he said.

Wabba said that the Special Adviser ended with the commitment to “engagements with our Labour colleagues in furtherance of joint goals to improve the power sector and the Nigerian economy.”

The NLC president noted that fortunately, the rebuttal by the Special Adviser came before the newspaper was supplied to Congress National Secretariat.

He added that since the Special Adviser had pre-emptively reached out to Congress leadership beforehand, it was reasonable to treat the newspaper report with caution and give the Special Adviser the benefit of the doubt.

“We, however, note that the relevant part of the newspaper report revolves around the point that “the Federal Government is ending N300 billion subsidy by January 2022.

“In essence, Congress hopes that the newspaper report was an overly extended interpretation of the ostensible plan to end the subsidy of the electricity sector.

“It is rather significant to state that the existence of a subsidy or lack of it in the electricity sector is one of the contentious matters the FG-Labour Committee on Electricity Tariff was mandated to handle,” he said.

Wabba, however, reiterated that one of the agreements with the Federal Government on September 28, 2020, included freezing further increases in electricity tariff.

“This is until the FGN-Labour Committee on Electricity Tariff concludes its work and its report is submitted and adopted by the Principals in the broad FG-Labour platform, led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Presidents of NLC and TUC, respectively.

”This pact to freeze electricity tariff increase entered into by the Principals last year September remains sacrosanct to Congress and would not admit flouting by any form of subterfuge.

“Despite the suppositions, fibs and fabrications, possible prevarications, Congress is inclined to dismiss the probable increase in electricity tariff as a mere conjecture.

“We would, however, be mindful to carefully track the various rumours, decoys and perhaps, arrant mischief concerning the management of electricity tariff,” he said.

He also said that accordingly, congress would indeed keep a monitoring tab on the work of the committee.

He said that congress urges the committee to hasten its work and present a report to the Principals in the shortest time.

“Finally, congress reaffirms its notice to the Federal Government issued on Aug. 30.

“That should the government make true the swirling speculations by approving an increase in electricity tariff, organised labour would be left with no option than to deploy the industrial mechanisms granted in our laws for the defence of workers’ rights,” he said.

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CBN raises commercial banks’ capital base to N500bn

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CBN raises commercial banks’ capital base to N500bn

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has increased the minimum capital requirements for commercial, merchant and non-interest banks.

The CBN increased the capital base for commercial banks with international licences to N500 billion, while national and regional financial institutions’ capital bases were fixed at N200 billion and N50 billion, respectively.

This was announced in a statement on Thursday, noting that the increase was due to prevailing macroeconomic challenges and headwinds.

The statement signed by Haruna Mustafa, director, financial policy and regulation department at the CBN.

It said the upward review would enhance the banks’ resilience, solvency and capacity to continue to support the growth of the Nigerian economy.

Also, the CBN raised the merchant bank minimum capital requirement to N50 billion for national licence holders.

The financial regulator said the capital base for national and regional non-interest banks is N20 billion and N10 billion, respectively.

To meet the minimum capital requirements, the CBN advised banks to consider the injection of “fresh equity capital through private placements, rights issue and/or offer for subscription”.

The CBN also suggested merger and acquisition (M&A), as well as upgrade or downgrade of licences.

“The minimum capital specified above shall comprise paid-up capital and share premium only. For the avoidance of doubt, the new capital requirement shall not be based on shareholders’ funds,” it stated

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Tinubu orders creation of single-digit tax system

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Tinubu orders creation of single-digit tax system

President Bola Tinubu has directed a creation of a single-digit tax system with a maximum of nine taxes for a company or an individual.

Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, disclosed this in Abuja while speaking with the management team of Guinness Nigeria who paid him a visit.

A statement on Wednesday by Dare Adekanmbi, Special Adviser on Media to the FIRS chairman, quoted Adedeji as saying, “The President gave a directive that he wants a single-digit tax in the country, meaning that the maximum number of taxes we will have after the work of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms will be nine taxes.”

The statement added that the plan was aimed at having a conducive environment “created for businesses to flourish and grow the economy.”

 

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Naira gains further against dollar

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Naira gains further against dollar

The Naira rose further in the official market on Tuesday, trading at N1,382.95 to the dollar.

According to data from the FMDQ’s official trading portal, the Naira rose by N25.09, or 1.78 percent, from the previous day’s rate of N1,408 versus the dollar.

On Tuesday, total turnover was $245.58 million, up from $222.15 million on Monday.

Meanwhile, at the Investor’s and Exporters (I&E) window, the Naira traded between N1,486 and N1,300 against the dollar.

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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had, earlier on Tuesday at its 294th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), raised Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) by 200 basis points from 22.75 per cent to 24.75 per cent.

CBN governor Yemi Cardoso said that was meant to tackle the nation’s rising inflation.

Naira gains further against dollar

(NAN)

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