By Electricity workers under the aegis of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) have caused a nationwide power outage after shutting down major power stations in the country.
The union, on Wednesday, commenced a nationwide strike over contravention of workers’ conditions and default on payment of entitlement by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
Defying the pleas of the TCN, the electricity workers stormed the Kaduna Regional Headquarters of the agency and shut down power supply.
This development has resulted in a blackout across the federation, sending many Nigerian households and businesses into darkness.
The Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company had also announced a shutdown of operations.
However, the TCN, in a statement, said it is working to restore power and resolve the industrial dispute as soon as possible.
The statement read in part, “Regrettably, this is coming weeks after we had emerged from a hectic grid management regime, precipitated by the paucity of generation, which we grappled with for a couple of months.
“It would be recalled, in tandem with the initiative of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission on Partial Activation of Contracts coupled with the stream of interventions by the ministry of power and other stakeholders in the value chain-grid generation (at Peak) had reached 4,830.69MW as at yesterday, the 16th of August, 2022.
“In spite of this setback, we are set to restore the grid as quickly as possible. The ministries of power and labour & employment are currently meeting with the union officials in order to resolve the issues.”
