Obey Court order, NLC tells NERC, DisCOs

The Ayuba Waba led-Nigerian Labour Congress has called on the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and DisCOs to obey the judgement and revert to the old rates without further delay.

President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Waba, hailed the judgement, describing as courageous deserving of commendation.

Waba said “We (NLC) also consider it victory for the ordinary Nigerian who has been crushed by exploitative bills.”

He demanded that all the conditions precedent as contained in the sales agreement be met before any increase is made in the future.

NEWSVERGE on Wednesday reports that a Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos annulled the increased tariff in electricity by the NERC.

Justice Mohammed Idris while relying on Sections 31, 32 and 76 of the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act(EPSRA) 2005, in deciding the substantive suit held that, “NERC acted outside the powers conferred on it by the Act and failed to follow the prescribed procedure.”

The Judge while delivering his judgment, in a suit filed by a lawyer,  Toluwani Adebiyi, described NERC’s action as procedurally ultra vires, irrational, irregular and illegal.

The court was also of the view that “NERC has not shown that it acted in due obedience to the prescribed procedures and that there is no evidence that NERC complied with Section 76(6)(7) and (9) of the EPSRA Act.’

“Of all the legal requirements, it appeared the only one complied with by NERC was that it announced the new tariff in the newspapers.”

The court further held that, “it is clear from the affidavit evidence that the increase in tariff was done by NERC in defiance of the order of this court made on May 28, 2015 which directed parties in the case to maintain the status quo.

“The law is that every person upon whom an order is made by a court of competent jurisdiction must obey it, unless and until the order is discharged and set aside at the Appeal.”

Consequently, the court held that,” the tariff increase from July 1, 2015 was done in breach of the ‘status quo’ order. NERC’s action, was therefore, clearly hasty, reckless and irresponsible”.