By Bimbola Oyesola
The organised labour has accused the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) of propaganda to deliberately incite the public.
The TCN management had reported that the labour unions shut down the national grid, resulting in black out nationwide.
According to the TCN, the national grid shutdown occurred at about 2.19am yesterday morning, June 3, 2024.
But, in a swift response, the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) said the national grid shutdown was in response to a directive from the central body.
The union’s acting General Secretary, Dominic Igwebike said: “The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) issued a statement dated May 31, 2024, and a circular to all its affiliates same day on the commencement of an indefinite nationwide strike over the Federal Government’s failure to conclude and pass into law a new National Minimum Wage Act, and the refusal to reverse the vexatious hike in electricity tariff to N65/kwh.”
He noted that as an affiliate of the NLC, NUEE was only carrying out the directive of the Congress on the withdrawal of services according to the May 31 circular and statement.
He stated that all affiliates of the NLC and TUC obeyed the directive to withdraw services until all issues were sorted out.
“Consequently, the union joined the action of withdrawing services and we are perplexed with the action of the TCN management.
“This begs us to understand if the TCN management is indifferent and happy with the suffering of the poor masses’ meagre minimum wage of N35,000 compared to the current over 200 percent cost of living in the country.”
Igwebike said the TCN management should focus on improving the transmission network and reducing frequent national grid collapses rather than meddling into the affairs of the Union and the NLC.
He maintained that the ongoing strike was a clarion call for the Union to participate in the emancipation of the down-trodden Nigerians by fighting for a living wage and against discriminatory tariff hikes in the electricity sector to ensure Nigerians deserve the right to accessible and affordable electricity services. He, however, condemned the TCN management for inviting the military to frustrate the workers’ action.
“Furthermore, we are informed that the TCN management has invited some military personnel to intimidate and beat up our members at various TCN locations for fighting against the plight of poor Nigerians.
“This is to warn the TCN management that any of our members who are harassed, intimidated or beaten up by the military personnel will not be tolerated,” he warned.
The TCN, in a statement signed by Ndidi Mbah, General Manager, Public Affairs, said TCN has commenced grid recovery, using the Shiroro Substation to attempt to feed the transmission lines supplying bulk electricity to the Katampe Transmission Substation.
He, however, lamented that the situation was such that the labour union was still obstructing the grid recovery nationwide.
“We will continue to make efforts to recover and stabilise the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide,” he said.