Electricity across Nigeria is being restored after the nation-wide strike by the National Union Electricity Employees (NUEE) that lasted for 24 hours was called off. The generating plants are gradually ramping up capacity.
Organised labour under the auspices of NUEE on Thursday met with government officials to resolve the crisis that could have left the nation in darkness during the festive period.
Parties at the meeting resolved the non-payment of over 2,000 disengaged Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) staff.
Alex Okoh, director-general, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), confirmed that over N36 billion has been paid and the verification of 600 staff processed and forwarded to Office of the Account General of the Federation (OAGF) for payment, while 2,000 could not be verified.
On the 16-month underpayment of severance benefit as well as the 7.5 percent pension component, Okoh acknowledged that this was pending and promised to obtain the condition of service from the electricity generating companies (GenCos) and distribution companies (DisCos) within a week and hand them over to the minister of state for power.
People familiar with the matter told BusinessDay that power supply could normalise within the next 24 hours.
However, a source said electricity restoration has to be gradual, if not, the systems may be destroyed. This is because the plants were completely shut down by the union members, unlike what happens when there is system collapse; it has to be one step after the other in order to save the system.
“There could be voltage upsurge if there is a sudden restoration of electricity,” the source said. This same principle applies to the transmission and distribution sub-sectors of the electricity value chain. “It will take time for the turbines to pick up fully and for the transmission and distribution networks to stabilise.”
Godwin Idemudia, general manager, corporate communications, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, told BusinessDay that his company has started receiving supplies but it has to be gradual to avoid system breakdown.
Idemudia said calling off the strike was a good development for an industry that is already plagued with a series of problems. He advised both the union and the government to try and reach a meeting point on the issues, saying the country cannot endure a prolonged strike at this material time as the economy may suffer.
In a 5:06am tweet yesterday, the Eko Electricity Distribution Company told customers that the “National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has suspended its strike” and that its “offices & payment channels are open for business”.
Oyebode Fadipe, general manager communications, Abuja Electricity Company, said calling off the strike is a demonstration of the sensitivity of stakeholders toward the power sector. He said he was delighted to hear the strike was called off, stating that industrial actions affect the whole system and this would not be too good for the economy.
A visit to some of the offices of the electricity distribution companies revealed that the workers were carrying out their normal duties as they were attending to customers.
Situations at Ikeja Electric, Eko Electricity Distribution Company, Abuja Electricity and Ibadan DisCo indicated that everything was calm.
An official of Ibadan Electricity Company told BusinessDay that electricity was being restored in phases because plants were completed shut down and it would take time to get supplies fully returned to customers.
The electricity employees union had given a 21-day ultimatum to the government and various levels of management in the electricity sector to address their grievances over non-payment of salary arrears, remittance of pension deductions and retrenchment of staff or else they would plunge the nation into darkness.
This resolve to go on strike without further notification has come at a time when the GenCos and DisCos direly need N1.2 trillion bailout to improve services.
The workers under the auspices of the National Union of Electricity Employees accused the Ministry of Power of failing to respond to their strike notification letter which expired on Tuesday.
OLUSOLA BELLO, JOSHUA BASSEY & STEPHEN ONYEKWELU
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