TCN workers shutdown national grid, throw Nigeria into nationwide blackout

Striking workers of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, on Wednesday, shutdown the electricity national grid, throwing the nation into total blackout.

The strike by the workers, under the aegis of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and its Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) counterpart, was triggered by the directive of the TCN Board that all Principal Managers in acting capacity must undergo promotion interviews.

The directive, NUEE said “is in contravention of our conditions of service and career progression paths, unilaterally done without relevant stakeholders.”

The strike was, however, suspended after the minister of Power, Abubakar Yusuf, promised that issues raised by the workers would be addressed in two week.

Another grievance of the workers is perceived “stigmatisation of staff from the office of the Head of Service of the federation from working in other areas in the power sector, and the refusal of the market operator to fund the payment of entitlement of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria staff as agreed in December 2019 agreement after an industrial action by the union

Theeditorial.ng gathered that the impact of the strike began unfolding at 10am yesterday when the grid dropped from 4,149 Megawatts recorded at 6am to 2,600MW.

The grid capacity continued to drop as more workers at transmission stations withdrew their services and joined other colleagues in the industrial action.

It fell further to 939.4MW by 3pm and finally zero generation at 4pm.

As reported by Vanguard, the protesting workers blocked the entrance to the TCN headquarters building in Abuja.

Similar action took place in other TCN offices across the country.

The Abuja TCN’s head office houses the Federal Ministry of Power where the Minister of Power and the Minister of State, Power have their offices.

The striking workers locked out staff of the Ministry as well as both ministers and their aides.

NUEE General Secretary, Joe Ajaero, had in a letter calling out the workers for strike, said the directive for the promotion interview was in contravention of the workers’ condition of service and career progression path.

He said it was unilaterally done without the relevant stakeholders.

NUEE also lament the “stigmatisation of staff from the office of the Head Service of the Federation from working in other areas in the power sector.

“Refusal of the market operator to fund the payment of entitlement of ex-PHCN staff as agreed in December 2019 agreement after an industrial action by the union.”

The aggrieved workers made good their threat to down tools and commenced indefinite strike if their grievances were not addressed by yesterday morning.

This was sequel to the desperate attempt by the Minister of State Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba, to sway the workers to shelve the strike and sought a two-week grace to allow the government to address the issues raised by the workers.

It also followed the reversal of the TCN Board on the promotion interview directive.