The sudden removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu during his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, has been meeting with massive opposition from key industrial sector across the country. In a recent development, the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has ordered its members to suspend services across the country.

In a statement signed by the Acting General Secretary of the union Dominic Igwebike, NUEE urged its members to comply with the directive starting from the early hours of Wednesday morning.

It is recalled that in response to Tinubu's announcement, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) ordered its branches to sell fuel at a significantly increased price of N480 to N570 per litre, compared to an increase of nearly of 200%.

Following the sudden actions of the presidency and the NNPCL, the Nigeria Labor Congress (NLC) on Friday declared its intention to hold a nationwide protest on Wednesday June 7 if the NNPCL refuses to return to the previous price regime in the oil sector. The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) also threatened to join the strike.

In a letter to its members on Sunday, NUEE said its decision was an outcome of the emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the NLC held at the Labor House in Abuja on June 2 to deal with the sudden removal of fuel subsidy which has caused significant hardship for Nigerians and contributed to rising inflation in the economy.

The statement directed all leaders at the national, state and local levels to mobilize their members in full compliance with the policy, with services suspended across the state beginning at 00:00hr, Wednesday, June 7, 2023.