A major nationwide blackout was averted yesterday.
Electricity workers under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) suspended their strike following the Federal Government’s intervention.
NUEE made good on its threats to stop the operations of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) over a face-off with the Ministry of Power on labour-related issues.
The action cut the power supply to electricity consumers, throwing the nation into darkness.
As of 3pm yesterday, Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Abuja and some others suffered outages.
But to the relief of millions, the union said the strike had been suspended for two weeks.
At the end of a meeting between the Federal Government, the leadership of NUEE and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEC), a tripartite committee was set up to address the demands that led to the strike.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, hosted the meeting.
The issues border on the alleged contravention of the workers’ conditions of service and career progression; stigmatisation of electricity staff by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation and refusal of the market operators to fund the payment of entitlements of ex-PHCN staff as agreed in December 2019.
The committee was given two weeks to present a report.
NUEE General Secretary, Joe Ajaero, said that all necessary steps would be taken to restore power supply.
He said: “We have suspended the strike for two weeks. We will take a gradual process towards restoring power to the grid hoping that two weeks will be two weeks.
“The government has set up a committee with the representatives of these unions, parastatals and agencies to look at the establishment issue with regards to the memo from the Head of Service Office and get back to us in two weeks.
“The same thing with the issue of money (owed the ex-PHCN workers) because there was a buck-passing between the market operator and the Bureau of Public Enterprise on who should pay the 16 months we are talking about. Based on that we adjourned.”
President of SSAEC, Chika Ben, promised there would be no further blackout.
Briefing journalists on the outcome of the meeting, Ngige said after exhaustive deliberations on the issues in dispute, they agreed to constitute a bipartite committee to look into the grievances of the electricity workers and report back in two weeks.
According to the minister, the members of the bipartite committee include the Minister of State for Power Jeddy Agba (Chairman); Permanent Secretary, Office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation; Permanent Secretary, General Services, Office of the Head of Service of the Federation; Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment; representative of BPE and two representatives from NUEE and SSAEC.
Those present at the meeting were Jedy-Agba, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Kachollom Daju; Permanent Secretary Office of the Head of Service of the Federation; Managing Director of TCN, Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz and the Chairman of TCN Board, Imamuddeen Talba.
How the lights went off
Before the suspension, NUEE withdrew its services across the country.
The Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KAEDCO) blamed the interruption of power supply in parts of Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states on the dispute.
NUEE officials picketed the Mando TCN Station in the Kaduna capital, shutting down operations.
They also forced workers out of the company’s premises before locking the gate with their keys.
The TCN Kaduna Regional station covers four northwestern states, Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara States.
The TCN said the national electric power grid was shut down.
Public Affairs General Manager, Mrs Ndidi Mba, in a statement, said this was despite the effort made to resolve the issues.
The incident, she said, “occurred at 15:01Hrs, after several 330kV transmission lines and 33kV feeder-lines across the power system network were switched off by the union members, resulting in generation-load imbalance and multiple voltage escalations at critical stations and substations”.
The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company PLC (EEDC) spokesperson, Emeka Ezeh, said in a statement that due to the industrial action at the power stations, operations across the franchise area were disrupted.
“As a result of this development, all our feeders are out of supply and this has affected supply to our esteemed customers in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states.”
The strike was triggered by the directive of the TCN board that all principal managers who are in acting capacity must undergo promotion interviews.
On Tuesday, the electricity workers picketed the offices of TCN nationwide.
They blocked the entrance to the TCN headquarters in Abuja, which houses the Federal Ministry of Power.
Their action locked out staff of the ministry as well as both ministers and their aides.
NUEE General Secretary Ajaero had in the letter calling out the workers, said the directive for the promotion interview was in contravention of the workers’ condition of service and career progression path.
He said the directive was unilaterally done without the relevant stakeholders.
The NUEE General Secretary also decried the “stigmatisation of staff from the office of the Head Service of the Federation from working in other areas in the power sector.”
The union, in the circular, also alleged the “refusal of the market operator to fund the payment of entitlement of ex-PHCN staff as agreed in December 2019 agreement after an industrial action by the union”.
The action went on despite the intervention of the Minister of State for Power who had appealed for a two-week grace to allow the government to address the issues.