Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, was on Monday locked out of his office along with other workers of the ministry who were denied access into the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Power, the Power House Building, in the Maitama District of Abuja.

The action which was carried out by angry members of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) was as a result of the recent increase in electricity tarrif hikes in country and the refusal of the government to reverse the increment despite demands by organized labour.

The action of the electricity workers also coincided with a 14-day ultimatum given to the federal government by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), to reverse the hike in electricity tariff by May 31.

The labour unions which took the decision at the end of its joint National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Monday, said the NEC has once again “vehemently condemns the unilateral increase in electricity tariff by the authorities.”

The labour unions said the “action, which was taken without due consideration for the economic hardships faced by the masses and the provisions of the law, is deemed unjust and burdensome.”

“The NEC reaffirms its demands for an immediate reversal of the tariff hike and the vexatious apartheid categorisation into bands to alleviate the suffering of Nigerian workers and citizens and gives the National Electricity Regulatory Commission and the Federal Government until the last day of May, 2024 to meet these demands,” the unions said in a statement.

Speaking on the decision to deny the minister access to his office, General Secretary of NUEE, Igwebike Dominic, insisted that the shutdown of the Power Ministry would continue until the government listens to the demands of the union or calls for a meeting to address the issues.

“The shutdown of Power House is going to continue until they hold a meeting with the unions or meet the demands written in our letter to the minister,” he stated.

Part of the letter from the unions to the Minister had read:

“We are taken aback by the utmost disregard for the critical stakeholders in the power sector by you and your agency’s unilateral and detrimental decisions in the sector.

“We believe that all agencies, under your ministry, should key into your agenda and set goals by extension to the vision of this administration in seeing to a regular and sustainable power supply in the country.

“So, the disruption being engineered by NERC in the sector is not surprising, as there is no known agenda or vision for the power sector by your administration one year after the resumption of office.

“The unfortunate scenario playing out in the power sector points to the fact that you administer the sector like a personal estate with no consideration for the welfare and survival of the workers and the sector in general.

“The mischievous deduction of eight per cent of the revenue generated as technical losses from TCN is a political calculation to blackmail the company and its management to make it look inefficient is disheartening and would, in the long term, hurt the entire electricity value chain. This is highly unacceptable and cannot be sustained.

“The vexatious order from NERC on a monthly deduction of N2bn from the account of TCN is unrealistic and an attempt to run TCN down, portray the management as incompetent and take advantage of the failures for selfish political gains. We want a justified reason for such a humongous and unrealistic deduction.

“The illegal deduction of 46.7 per cent from TCN revenue (not even profit) for project execution for Discos; are the privatised companies not owned by private entities?

“What system of privatisation are we adopting? Our findings revealed that all these obnoxious orders from NERC are a conspiracy to grind the operations of TCN and then liquidate it. These are to prepare enough ground to unbundle it for selfish political gains by a few people,” they said.

The introduction of taxation on online political content aligns with international standard practices used by governments to broaden their tax base, according to Frank Bwalya, the Director of the ruling United Party for National Development (UPND) Presidential Campaign media team.

Bwalya told Zambia Monitor that people should not be apprehensive about the introduction of such taxes, assuring that it would not stifle any business operating online.

“It is standard practice throughout the world that whenever governments see people and organizations making money, they get interested and start to collect taxes on behalf of the people,” he stated.

Addressing media freedoms, Bwalya acknowledged the existence of media freedom in the country, even though certain people had been arrested and media houses closed in the past.

He argued that under the UPND government, the media and public were more free to express themselves without hindrance, unlike in the past when journalists faced intimidation and harassment by cadres.

“Media freedom is the freedom enjoyed by the press and everyone involved in public communication, such as radio stations, televisions, newspapers, online publications and new media like digital media,” Bwalya stated.

Bwalya, a trained journalist, added that media freedom was guaranteed by various legislation and the constitution, which was the supreme law of the land.

However, he was quick to mention that some media houses were abusing this privilege.

He further commented on the advantages and disadvantages of the Cyber Security Act, stating that it was in place to protect people and guarantee freedom of expression.

“As a matter of fact, it is enhancing freedom of expression and allowing people to express themselves in a sober manner,” Bwalya said.

He also commended the mainstream media for highlighting issues affecting people in the country, although he noted an information gap, especially for people in rural areas.

This story is sponsored content from Zambia Monitor’s Project Aliyense.