Power sector workers yesterday made good their threat to embark on a nationwide strike, shutting down power stations countrywide and setting off another electricity grid collapse around 3pm.
But after throwing the entire nation into a total blackout for several hours with its attendant loss of productivity which may have run into billions of naira, the workers suspended the industrial action by two weeks.
But earlier, several videos emanating from the workers’ action showed the officials gleefully shutting down several transmission stations nationwide despite its security and economic implications and the authorities’ cancellation of the proposed promotion exam.
The workers said they were protesting a directive by the board of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) mandating principal managers in acting capacity to appear for a promotion interview.
National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEC) Secretary General, Joe Ajaero insisted that the directive was in contravention of the workers’ conditions of service and career progression paths, adding that “it was unilaterally done without the relevant stakeholders”.
The group also complained about the failure of the authorities to pay the entitlement of former staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) since December 2019.
The shutdown of the power assets triggered a national electricity grid crash, crumbling from over 4,000MW to 762MW and finally to zero generation at about 4pm.
Information from the Independent System Operation (ISO), a section of TCN, power generation on the grid was 4,149.40MW as of 6am from 21 power plants on Wednesday but drastically dropped to 1,635MW from 17 plants when the protesters started shutting down.
It deteriorated as of 12 noon, crashing to 1,246.40MW as three power plants went off, and by 1pm, the grid dropped to 762.30MW with just 13 plants active before falling to zero.
This was against the peak generation achieved on Tuesday, which was 4,829MW.
Minister of State for Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba, had Tuesday appealed to the union for time to resolve the issues, while the Managing Director of TCN, Sule Abdulaziz, also wrote the workers intimating them of management’s suspension of the said proposed interview.
Concerning the other issues relating to the Head of Service (HoS) on stigmatisation of the defunct PHCN staff and payment of entitlement of ex-PHCN staff by the market operator, Abdulaziz said the management had contacted the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, for further action.
But in a response, the workers insisted that the protest would continue, faulting the authorities for not resolving the promotion issues for three years and stressing that memos addressed to the HoS’ office had gone without even the courtesy of an acknowledgement.
