Darkness as 4 Nigerian States Suffer Blackout Over Strike Action
- The Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company's employees have started an industrial strike
- This is against what they perceived as unfair treatment over years of unpaid pension and other benefits
- The management of the company, however, blamed the union for sabotaging power supply
Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over three years of experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.
Workers of the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company have embarked on an industrial action. As a result, residents of Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Kebbi states are in darkness.
Source: UGC
The workers, who staged a protest against what they perceived to be unfair treatment by the company's management, went on an indefinite strike on Tuesday under the banner of the Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees.
According to information obtained by The PUNCH, the employees were upset about a number of issues, including six years' worth of unpaid pensions, the company's failure to pay the death benefits of its deceased employees, the unjust dismissal of seven Zaria-based employees, and a purported plan to fire over a thousand employees.
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How management reacted
The Cable reported that in a statement sent by Abdulazeez Abdullahi, head of corporate communication at Kaduna Disco, the management condemned the strike, calling it utterly unjustified.
Abdulazeez said:
“For the union to choose this path at the very start of the holy month of Ramadan and inflict more discomfort on hapless Nigerians by embarking on an ill-advised strike and forcing staff from carrying out their legitimate duties says a lot about its motive.”
According to Abdulazeez, the union's demand for unpaid pension arrears is a component of the historical debts accrued during the two prior managements.
“One wonders why the union failed to prioritise the payments then until now. This is a clear indication that the union has other motives yet unknown to us.”
Legit.ng earlier reported that a few days after the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) threatened to sanction DisCos over electricity load rejection, the commission dissolved the board of Kaduna DisCo over N110 billion debt.
NERC said the dissolution came following the company's inability to meet its obligations, which amounted to N182.16 billion in the last four years.
The amount includes N51.9 billion market remittance shortfall, N25 billion minimum capital expenditure requirements, and N11.46 billion operations expenses requirement for 2023.
FG moves to sell 40% stake in Discos
Legit.ng reported that the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has stated that the federal government's remaining 40% stake in electricity distribution companies (Discos) will be put up for sale on the capital market in 2024.
Alex Okoh, the director general of the BPE, said this during a media chat in Abuja on Tuesday, December 12.
In addition, he disclosed the government's plan to sell four other assets, including Eleme Petrochemicals Company Limited, Nigeria Re-Insurance, Nicon Insurance, and Nigeria Machine Tools in Osogbo in 2024.
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Source: Legit.ng
