Total Black-Out Looms as TCN Locks Out Workers in Abuja,

The Transmission Compapower, Nigeria on
Wednesday locked out workers from its
headquarters in Abuja over a disagreement with
the management and the Federal Ministry of power,spiking fears that the nation may be
plunged into a total blackout in the coming days.

It was gathered that the workers were denied
entry into the headquarters of the TCN when
they arrived for work in the morning as armed
mobile police officers had taken over the
premises.
A senior executive of the company told our
correspondent that operations were grounded at
the TCN as a result of the development and
stressed that if the situation was not addressed
immediately, it would negatively affect the power
value chain.
“Of course, the TCN headquarters is where a lot
of transmission activities are being coordinated
and directives are given; a few of these
transmission activities are also being
implemented here. So, grounding activities at the
TCN headquarters is not good at all for the
entire power value chain, because it may lead to
blackout in most parts of the country,” the
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity
due to the sensitive nature of the matter, said.
On what led to the locking out of the workers by
armed police officers, the official stated that the
disagreement between the staff of the company
and the Federal Government on issues of
severance payment for some workers after the
defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria was
privatised, among others, prompted the closure
of the firm on Tuesday.
He said, “There are a lot of issues; some
workers are complaining that they have not been
paid and so they stopped the Permanent
Secretary of the Power ministry, Louis Edozien,
from trying to take over some offices in the
building recently. During the process, there were
series of altercations, which almost degenerated
into a brawl.
“Also, the workers are of the view that the
government had failed to keep to some of the
agreements it reached with them, and as a
result, insisted that the headquarters of the
defunct PHCN, which currently houses the TCN,
cannot be given to the ministry. This was fiercely
fought against by the permanent secretary, but
he met a stiff resistance from the workers.”
Confirming these, the Chairman, National Union
of Electricity Employees, Abuja, Mr. Wisdom
Nwachukwu, told our correspondent that the
workers decided to vacate the TCN headquarters
on Tuesday when they saw that the premises
had been taken over by armed officers.
He stated that the disagreement with the
ministry on issues of workers’ welfare had to be
settled before it would be allowed to take over
the building.
“After series of meetings, we reached
agreements, but none of the agreements has
been met. We made this known to the
permanent secretary and instead of looking for
ways to settle the issue, he decided to storm the
headquarters with armed officers, who locked
the workers outside,” Nwachukwu stated.
On whether the shutdown of the headquarters
would not affect power supply across the
country, Nwachukwu said, “The armed officers
were deployed here on Monday night and they
arrived around 12 midnight. We can’t access the
building and therefore we can’t work. If we can’t
work, and you know the importance of the TCN
headquarters to transmission, then you should
know the impact that this will have on the power
system generally.”
When contacted, officials of the Power ministry
told our correspondent that the matter was a
labour issue and that it was being handled by the
Ministry of Labour and Employment, insisting that
it would not affect power supply.
“The issue will be resolved fast and I doubt if it
will drag on for more than one day. So, I doubt if
it will lead to nationwide power supply
disruptions, because the Labour ministry held a
meeting with them today (Tuesday), and the
meeting will continue tomorrow (Thursday),” an
official of the ministry said.