Nigeria is still in darkness despite the directives of the leadership of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) to suspend the ongoing strike by two weeks.
Mr Godfrey Abah, the Chairman, FCT chapter of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) said in Abuja on Wednesday.
Abah said that the suspension followed a meeting held with the Ministers of Labour, Mr Chris Ngige, Mr Abubakar Aliyu, Powe as well as the Minister of State for Power, Mr Goddy Jedy-Agba, and thevrepresentative of the Head of Service.
Others at the meeting he said were the representative of the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and the management of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
He said all the issues were presented and a high power delegation was set up to look into the matter and report back within two weeks.
”On that premise, we decided to suspend the strike for two weeks pending when the issues will be resolved, ” he said.
Abah also said that on the issue the union had with the TCN’s Board, they had written a letter to schedule a meeting with them to resolve the issue.
NUEE had in a notice signed by its General Secretary, Mr Joe Ajaero directed its members to stop work effective Aug. 17.
”You are hereby enjoined to mobilise immediately for serious picketing of TCN Headquarters and Stations nationwide over the directive by the TCN Board that all Principal Managers in acting capacity going to Assistant General Manager must appear for a promotion interview.
”This directive is in contravention of our Conditions of Service and Career Progression Paths and was unilaterally done without the relevant Stakeholders,” the union said.
The union also decried the failure of the authorities to pay the entitlements of
former staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) since December 2019.
Despite the suspension of the strike, residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are still awaiting the restoration of electricity which was turned off at the TCN stations nationwide earlier on Wednesday.
The consumers appealed to the union as well as the management of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to resolve the issues so as to and restore power.
Mrs Sadiya Mohammed, a Cold Room Owner in Kado Fish Market said the strike was out of place as most of the demand of the union was uncalled for.
Mohammed said that the issues in contention could had been resolved without going on strike at this time when Nigerians had just started enjoying constant power supply.
“ The strike was not necessary as both parties could have settled the issue to avoid putting Nigerians in darkness.
“I am appealing to the union and the management of TCN to settle the matter as we are tired of strikes in Nigeria, ‘’ she said.
Mrs Ngozi Okonkwo, a civil servant said that the reason for the strike was neither here or there, adding that the union was being insensitive to the plight of Nigerians.
Okonkwo said, “the country has been having challenges of National Grid collapse and we are just coming out of it and few weeks after they are going on strike.”
“The funny thing is that what they are asking for is ridiculous, they want to go for promotion exam or interview, how can a civil servant not go for promotion exams and interview.
“We are all civil servants, we go for interviews and promotion exams.”
Mr Segun Alabi, a welder in Lugbe said that the strike would affect his business, adding that it was not easy for him to do his job without electricity.
Alabi appealed to both parties to resolve the issues amicably to save Nigerians from blackout.
Another resident, Mr Raymond Adodo of Lugbe appealed to the union to return to work to save Nigerians from hardship
According to him, Nigerians cannot do without electricity for a long time as most of the small scale business owners depend on power to operate.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said that the national grid was shut-down following the industrial dispute by the two in-house unions in the company.
TCN’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs Ndidi Mbah, said in Abuja that the grid was shut down by the unions even as effort was being made to resolve the issues upon which the action was called.
Mbah said that the incident occurred at 3:01p.m. on Wednesday, after several 330kV transmission lines and 33 Kilo Volt (kV) feeder-lines across the power system network had been switched off by the members of the unions.
”This resulted in generation-load imbalance and multiple voltage escalations at critical stations and substations.
She said that this was coming weeks after the company had come out of hectic grid management regime, occasioned by paucity of generation that lingered for a couple of months.
”Coupled with the stream of interventions by the Ministry of Power and other stakeholders in the Value Chain,grid generation (at Peak) had reached 4,830.69 Megawatts (MW) as at Tuesday, “she said.
Mbah said that in spite of the setback, TCN was set to restore the grid as quickly as possible.
The spokesperson said that the Ministries of Power and Labour & Employment, were currently meeting with the union officials in order to resolve the issues.
She said that the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry appreciates the understanding of our customers within and outside the country.
Mbah said that enduring mechanisms are being instituted to avert a situation of this kind going forward
