…..FG invites labour leaders for a meeting on Tuesday
Organized labour in Nigeria,Monday, June 3, ,2024 threw the country into total blackout, shutting down the national grid.
That followed Federal Government ‘s refusal to pay Nigerian workers living wage. Series of meeting were held between the Labour Union and the federal government of Nigeria and nothing reasonable came out of it.
On Friday, organised labour announced that they will be commencing a nationwide indefinite strike due to the refusal of the Federal Government to increase the proposed minimum wage from N60,000.
According to the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, the strike will begin at midnight on Sunday, June 2, 2024.
In a joint statement delivered by Ajaero and his Trade Union Congress counterpart, Festus Osifo, they expressed their serious concerns and disappointment over the Federal Government’s failure to finalise and pass a new National Minimum Wage Act into law.
They also demanded that the government should reverse the increase in electricity tariff to N65/kWh.
Both the Nigerian Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress had given an ultimatum of May 31, 2024, for negotiations on the new minimum wage.
However, talks between organised labour and the Federal Government broke down on Tuesday after both parties presented their offers.
The government increased its initial offer of N57,000 by adding N3,000 to make it N60,000. An amount that cannot buy a bag of 50Kg rice in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, labour started the indefinite strike,Monday,June 3,2024 ,with offices locked and the national grid shut.
in a press release made available to newsmen on Monday, the Transmission Company of Nigeria said labour deliberately shut down the national grid.
Full text of the Press release :
PRESS RELEASE
GRID SHUT DOWN : UNION DELIBERATELY SHUT DOWN THE NATIONAL GRID.
The Transmission Company of Nigeria hereby informs the general public that the Labour Union has shut down the national grid, resulting in black out nationwide. The national grid shut down occured at about 2.19am this morning, 3rd June 2024.
At about 1:15am this morning, the Benin Transmission Operator under the Independent System Operations unit of TCN reported that all operators were driven away from the control room and that staff that resisted were beaten while some were wounded in the course of forcing them out of the control room and without any form of control or supervision, the Benin Area Control Center was brought to zero.
Other transmission substations that were shut down, by the Labour Union include the Ganmo, Benin, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba and Osogbo Transmission Substations. Some transmission lines were equally opened due to the ongoing activities of the labour union.
On the power generating side, power generating units from different generating stations were forced to shut down some units of their generating plants, the Jebba Generating Station was forced to shut down one of its generating units while three others in the same substation subsequently shut down on very high frequency. The sudden forced load cuts led to high frequency and system instability, which eventually shut down the national grid at 2:19am.
At about 3.23am, however, TCN commenced grid recovery, using the Shiroro Substation to attempt to feed the transmission lines supplying bulk electricity to the Katampe Transmission Substation. The situation is such that the Labour Union is still obstructing grid recovery nationwide.
We will continue to make effort to recover and stabilize the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide.
Ndidi Mbah
GM, Public Affairs
3/5/24
tcnnigeria
The Federal Government has invited Labour Union for a meeting on Tuesday,May 4,2024. It is not clear if Labour leaders will honour the invite.
Author: Maureen Ikpeama