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Organised labour in the electricity sector has warned that
the current power supply in the country is not sustainable.
It has also given reasons Nigerians are experiencing
improved power supply.
Speaking through the National Union of Electricity
Employees (NUEE), labour said the raining season, the
President Muhammadu Buhari factor and steady supply of
gas to power plants were the major reasons for the
improved power supply.
“During this time of the year, there is always a slight
improvement in power supply because of the rise in water
level. That is, the lake goes up and hydro power stations
generate more power. Second is the Buhari factor which
has made operator to sit up and added to that, before now,
the gas pipelines were usually vandalized,” the General
Secretary of NUEE, Mr. Joe Ajaero said.
“We suspect it may be in collaboration by some highly
placed individuals who award contracts for the pipelines to
be repaired which runs into billions of Naira. If the
pipelines are vandalized and the contracts are awarded for
repairs, almost every two months, it is big money for them.
I think that because of the fear that those who engaged in
the business may be caught, for now there is relative peace
and the gas pipelines are delivering gas to the power plants.
But we fear the current power situation may not be
sustainable. Once the rainy season ends and the water level
drops, there will be problem. Again, today all power being
generated is being pumped into the system, there is no
reserve in case of any break down, and there is no reserve
in case of maintenance and so on. We ought to have reserve
for emergencies. Sadly, we do not have that at the
moment.”
Speaking on the recent NUEE face-off with Port
Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHEDC,
Ajaero said although the Department of State Service and
the police, attempted to wade in, they had nothing to do
with industrial relations.
Speaking on the recent NUEE face-off with Port
Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHEDC,
Ajaero said although the Department of State Service and
the police, attempted to wade in, they had nothing to do
with industrial relations.
Ajaero warned that next time, the management of
PHEDC would not find it easy, saying “Though the 18
successor companies have disdain for union, at least, in
others, there is union management relationship. Though we
don’t agree on a lot of issues, we meet and discuss, but
PHEDC does not want to discuss. The next time we are
biting them, we are going to bite them hard. This one is just
an example. We went to Industrial Arbitration Panel,
IAP, and the management said they were not going to
respect the ruling of IAP. They wrote to us a letter that
they had appealed to the National Industrial Court, NIC,
but, till now, we have not seen the appeal. Nevertheless,
the issues now are not the matters presented at IAP. They
wanted to use that excuse of being in court to continue to
perpetuate anti-labour practices.
“The current arrangement in the power sector makes it
easier for us to select a place and deal with the issues
there. Before now, it would have been a nationwide action.
We have perfected our plan so that there could be power
outage in Port Harcourt, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and
Bayelsa without the action affecting other states. We feel
sorry for the residents of these states plan who experienced
power outage during the action, and we pray that we will
not be forced to take a similar action again. If we take this
action again, the management won’t see anyone to negotiate
with. Electricity sector is a unionised sector.
“At privatisation, the first six months was a transition
period from Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN,
to the new investors. What were transferred to new
investors were the files of the workers and grades, only
Port Harcourt claimed that the membership of the union
was not transferred. Even for the six months that nobody
was meant to talk, they did not pay their dues. None of the
workers has withdrawn his membership of the union. The
IAP told them to pay the dues they owed. Someone who
was receiving N150, 000 before was paid N30, 000 and
when they complained, the management sacked 30 of them.
That is the level of impunity going on there. They sacked
without discussion with the union. That impunity has to
stop,” Ajaero said.
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