The national electricity grid dropped from over 4,000 megawatts (MW) to 762MW on Wednesday morning as workers at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) began an industrial action to protest a mandatory promotion interview for principal managers, among other issues.
According to data from TCN’s Independent System Operation (ISO), power generation on the grid was 4,149.40MW as of 6 a.m. Wednesday from 21 power plants, but dropped dramatically to 1,635MW from 17 plants.
By 12 noon, the grid had dropped to 1,246.40MW due to the shutdown of three power plants, and by 1pm, the grid had dropped to 762.30MW with only 13 plants operating. On Tuesday, peak generation was 4,829MW.
TCN AND UNION’S GROUSE
The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) protested on Tuesday, blocking TCN’s Maitama headquarters after the company issued a strike notice earlier in the day, stating that the strike would begin in full on Wednesday.
According to the General Secretary, Joe Ajaero, in a notice dated August 15, 2022, the union objected to a directive by “the TCN Board that all Principal Managers in acting capacity progressing to Assistant General Managers must appear for a promotion interview.” This directive is in violation of our Conditions of Service and Career Progression Paths, and it was issued unilaterally without consultation with the relevant stakeholders.”
It also claimed stigmatisation of staff from the office of the Federation’s Head of Serve from working in other areas of the power sector, as well as a refusal by TCN’s Market operator to fund the payment of ex-PHCN staff entitlements as agreed in December 2019.
Responding to the notice the same day, Goddy Jedy-Agba, Minister of State for Power, noted the complaints and asked the union for more time to resolve the issues.
“May we appeal to your great union to allow us two weeks from the date of this letter to address the issues and come up with proposals towards acceptable resolution of all issues,” he said
More so, the Managing Director of TCN, Engr. Sule Abdulaziz, wrote a letter on 15th August, 2022 to NUEE stating that, “We are pleased to inform you that management has suspended the said proposed interview for those on the acting appointment of assistant general managers and general managers while we conclude the discussion with the board.
On the other issues such as circular from the office of Head of Service on stigmatization of the defunct PHCN staff and payment of entitlement of ex-PHCN staff by the Market Operator, Abdulaziz said the management had contacted the Minister of Power, Engr. Abubakar D. Aliyu, for further actions.
“In view of this development, we appeal to your union to stay in action,” he pleaded.
However, on August 16, 2022, NUEE wrote back to the minister and the MD of TCN, stating that the protest would continue. The union chastised the authorities for failing to resolve the promotion issues for three years and was unconvinced about the stigmatisation issues at the Office of the Head of Service.
“On the stigmatization of staff from the office of the |Head of Service of the Federation from working in other areas in the power sector, we are not sure you are speaking for the Head of Service after memos addressed to that office several months ago have gone without any acknowledgement,” the letter stated.
And for issues concerning the TCN board, NUEE insisted on hearing from the board and not through the TCN management or the junior minister’s office.
“Premised on the foregoing, we may be constrained to continue with this action by Wednesday 17th August 2022 with a total withdrawal of services. However, the union is still open to decisive discussions with relevant actors; with a view to proffering solutions to the issues raised and averting the total collapse of the sector,” Ajaero stated in the letter.
DISCOS HAVE ANNOUNCED AN OUTAGE.
Meanwhile, there are pockets of outages in Abuja, and the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) issued a notice informing customers that the outage was caused by TCN workers who transmit bulk power from plants to DisCos’ stations withdrawing their services.
The Ikeja DisCo in Lagos also issued a statement saying that the nationwide picketing had impacted most of its stations and disrupted power supply.
