The Minister of State, Labour and Employment Festus Keyamo has provided an update on the Federal Government and labour unions’ meeting over the new price of petrol and electricity tariff.
Keyamo said that the government and labour representatives had adopted resolutions in the area of VAT being used to subsidize tariffs temporarily.
According to Keyamo, the new agreement involves using Value Added Tax (VAT) from Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) to give relief to customers within the Bands A, B, and C affected by the recent cost-reflective electricity tariff.
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As part of the agreement between the organized labour and FG on the 28th of September, a committee chaired by The Minister of Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has been meeting on the electricity price.
Keyamo made the news of this new agreement known via a tweet on Sunday. The committee, which has representatives of Labour, government and Electricity Distribution Companies, all worked hand-in-hand to reach the new agreements.
According to the agreement, the relief will be for a period of 2-3months, where customers will get N10.20 per KWh, which will be sourced from the proceeds of NESI VAT.
The committee also agreed that the 6million meters, which are to be distributed free of charge to Nigerians, are to be sourced locally, to create jobs.
He wrote: “At this time (11.15pm) the Govt team and Labour are meeting to consider the report of the Technical Committee on Electricity Tariffs set up two weeks ago and headed by my humble self (@fkeyamo). We have presented our report to the larger house. Communique expected soon.”
“Labour and Government have adopted these Resolutions of the Adhoc Committee I chaired. Highlights include using VAT proceeds to temporarily subsidize tariffs whilst my Committee will work for two more months to resolve other issues that may substantially affect tariff adjustments.”
“Other immediate reliefs include provision of six million free meters to Nigerians, salary protection for electricity workers, mandatory refund for any over-billing during system transition by the Discos, monthly publication by NERC of allowed billing of unmetered customers, etc.”
