FG moves to avert PHCN workers’ strike

APRIL 10, 2012 BY OKECHUKWU NNODIM 

Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji
| credits: File copy

The Federal Government on Monday commenced moves to meet with officials of the the major unions in the power sector in bid to avert the planned nationwide strike by workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria.

Our correspondent gathered that the Ministry of Labour made contacts with the unions during the Easter holiday, demanding that a meeting be held before the April 11 deadline for the commencement of the nationwide strike. The planned strike was to protest the recent sacking of three top officials of the Transmission Company of Nigeria and PHCN.

Last week, the National Union of Electricity Employees and the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies threatened to embark on an industrial action if the Federal Government failed to reinstate the three executives.

A top source in one of the unions said the move by government, aimed at preventing the workers from grounding the operations of PHCN nationwide, might not yield dividends unless the government listened to the unions’ demand.

He said, “Government is inviting us for a meeting, but they have only talked to us on the telephone. Maybe because of the public holidays, they have not been able to communicate with us as expected, or if they have done so, I have not seen anything to that effect.

“They want to intervene because of the looming strike. But until then, I cannot hold on to that until I see a document. Actually, we don’t have any business with the Ministry of Labour. I think this reaction is because they read our plans in the newspapers and that is why they have called us for a meeting.”

The unions had alleged that the Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, lied when he said the sacked executives were responsible for the interruptions to electricity supply in the country, which had recently taken a turn for the worse.

A document jointly signed by the President, SSAEAC, Mr. Bede Opara, and General Secretary, NUEE, Mr. Joe Ajaero, said, “The Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, lied to Nigerians that the three executives sacked recently were responsible for the power cuts currently bedevilling the nation. This is not justifiable and the three officers involved had nothing to do with the failure of power.”

Meanwhile, Opara told our correspondent that the scheduled negotiation between the unions and the Federal Government on April 16 would go on notwithstanding the planned industrial action.

He said the strike would not disrupt the meeting “unless the Federal Government doesn’t want to hold the meeting again. If government puts it off, fine and good. If they allow it to hold, fine also by us.”

SOURCE: The Punch, 10 April 2012. http://www.punchng.com/