Electricity Workers Shut Down Power Sector Nationwide – TheNigerialawyer

– Union members picket power ministry
– Reps summon ministers, PenCom boss

THE ISSUES

·Non-payment of severance package to retrenched workers since
2013
·Non-payment of salary arrears to NUEE members
·‘Illegal’ transfer of union proprietors to investors ·Retrenchment
of staff by power firms
·Not allowing workers to unionise by some power companies
·Failure of some DisCos to remit deducted contributed pension funds
to workers’ PFAS

GOVERNMENT moved on Wednesday to prevent a nationwide blackout
as electricity workers strike enters the second day.

The strike began midnight on Tuesday following expiration of the
21-day notice issued by the workers.

Employees of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Osogbo,
the Osun State capital, said they had shut down the facility in
compliance with the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE)
directive.

The facility in Osogbo hosts the National Control Centre (NCC).
The NCC in Osogbo is responsible for all Transmission Company of
Nigeria’s (TCN’s) grid operations, monitoring and control of the
transmission network.

General Secretary of NUEE Joe Ajaero said on Wednesday: “As you
can see, power has dropped across the nation and will continue like
that unless the government responds to our demands.

”We are open to dialogue and as I speak to you, we have been
invited to a meeting with the minister of state for Power.”

The House of Representatives summoned the Minister of Power
Saleh Mamman and his Labour and Employment counterpart, Chris
Ngige.

They are to appear before the lawmakers along with the National
Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and other stakeholders.

The Minister of Power has also invited the NUEE leadership to a
meeting today.

The workers picketed the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of
Power in Abuja.

The workers stopped Minister of Power Saleh Mamman from gaining
access into his office.

Staff of the ministry were denied access to the office by the
protesting union.

Chairman, NUEE, Federal Capital Territory chapter, Godfrey Aba,
said the workers were at the ministry to protest the non-payment of
severance packages to members who were employees of the defunct
Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

Aba said that over two thousand of their members were affected
by the unbundling of the PHCN by the Federal Government, noting
that the ex-PHCN workers were yet to collect their full
entitlements.

The union insisted that the minister should address their
demands without further delay.

He said: “We have a lot of issues. One, over 50, 000 of
disengaged PHCN employees that were short paid, up till now have
not been addressed. About 2,000 of disengaged PHCN employees have
not been paid their severance (package).

“As I speak to you, some Generating Companies (GENCOs) have
refused unionisation. Some of the GENCOs have prevented union
officials from entering their premises. Many Distribution Companies
(DISCOs) are paying half salaries.

“Some of the DISCOs are not remitting the pension of their
workers. Some DISCOs as I speak to you, have no condition of
service. We cannot continue to operate like that.

“The minister is aware of most of these issues. We have written
to the minister, we have sought his audience but nothing has been
done.

“We are here to take what belongs to us. We are here to claim
our right. That is why we shut this place down today.

“This is the office of the minister of power and we say the
minister will not enter this office until our demands are met.”

Visitors and workers of TCN were locked out of the premises of
the facility.

Another NUEE officer Segun Babatunde said: “Our action is the
consequence of the government keeping mute over the industrial
issues we have raised several times and those issues have remained
unattended up to this moment.

“We believe that we should be able to put our demands on the
table and negotiate with a view to achieving results at end of the
day. If you now communicate with government and the government is
not saying anything on the issues we are raising, we don’t have any
other option than to call out workers on strike.”

Power firms said there will be a disruption to services as a
result to the work boycott.

In Lagos, the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC)
said: “It is important to state that the grievances of the union
are not specific to Ikeja Electric, but directed at the Federal
Government and the entire power sector.

“However, due to the strike, there may be a disruption of
services across the network.

“Ikeja Electric is working with the Federal Government and other
relevant stakeholders to ensure that the industrial action is
called off and there will be a resumption of services to our
esteemed customers.”

The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), promised to
supply power to consumers in spite of the strike.

AEDC General Manager, Public Affairs, Mr. Oyebode Fadipe, urged
customers seeking to purchase electricity vouchers to patronize the
online vending platform and third party sellers.

The Spokesman, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), Mr
Godwin Idemudia, said the issue is impacting negatively on
operation of the energy distributors. He urged stakeholders to
resolve the issue.

He said: “Obviously, the strike would affect supply of
electricity in the country. If the power generation companies do
not give electricity to distribute, there won’t be anything to give
our customers. However, we would try as much as possible to meet
the growing needs of our customers. That is my personal opinion.
The issue has a much wider dimension as it is between the
government and the union. The earlier they reached an agreement on
issues, which caused the strike, the better for the industry.

The decision of the House of Representatives to summon Ngige,
Mamman and the the National Pension Commission boss arose following
a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Toby Okechukwu,
that the strike could lead to untold economic hardship if allowed
to continue.

He expressed concern that the resolve of the workers to go on
with the strike without further notification came as a result of
the information by a power sector consultant, Mrs. Rahila Thomas,
that GenCos and DisCos were in dire need of N1.2 trillion bailout
to improve their services.

Okechukwu said, ”If this threat is carried out, the whole
country will be plunged in total blackout and considering the
consequential role which electricity plays and the dependence upon
electricity by all sectors of the economy, including the National
Assembly, there will be severe economic losses, which will further
impact our society negatively.”

He added that there was an urgent need for the Federal
government to interface with the management of electricity
companies and NUEE on the matters raised by the workers.

He said there was a petition by the union dated November 7th,
2019 to the Minister of Power which was also sent to all DisCos and
GenCos .

The lawmakers said in the petition, NUEE gave a 21 day ultimatum
that its members would declare a nationwide strike if their demands
which included non-payment of salary arrears, remittance of pension
deductions, refusal to pay over 2,000 disengaged workers of the
EX-PHCN staff since 2013, were not met.

Another lawmer, Ndudi Elumelu, said there was no guarantee that
the nation could effectively distribute 100MW of electricity
daily.

He said the distribution companies presently do not have the
capacity to distribute the 4,000MW being generated.

Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, after the contributions
by some members, directed the Clerk to invite Ngige, Mamman, the
PENCOM boss, the electricity workers union and other stakeholders
to a meeting by 2pm today.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association
(NECA) has called for caution over the union’s strike.

NECA Director-General Dr. Timothy Olawale, said there was no
gainsaying that electricity was the bedrock of national
development.

“The challenges faced by operators in the sector are there for
all to see. Therefore, it is expected that all hands should be on
deck to support investors to surmount these challenges for the good
of our nation,” he said.

Culled from TheNation