By Olusola Adigun
As the organised labour commences a nationwide industrial action on monday over disagreement on the minimum wage, its representatives have shut down the national grid which supplies electricity across Nigeria.
Ndidi Mbah, GM, Public Affairs of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) said the forceful shutdown, which occured overnight has thrown the nation into darkness.
Speaking through a press statement made available to TheWest Newspaper, Mbah said: “The national grid shut down occured at about 2.19am this morning, 3rd June 2024.
“At about 1:15am this morning, the Benin Transmission Operator under the Independent System Operations unit of TCN reported that all operators were driven away from the control room and that staff that resisted were beaten while some were wounded in the course of forcing them out of the control room and without any form of control or supervision, the Benin Area Control Center was brought to zero.” He said
The labour unions called for the strike to push for a new national minimum wage and a reversal of the recent hike in electricity tariffs. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) believe the government’s proposed minimum wage increase is insufficient and doesn’t reflect the rising cost of living. They’re also demanding the government reverse the increase in electricity prices.
The decision to shut down the national grid must have stemmed from the fact that the unions wanted a maximum impact of the industrial action, unlike previous actions that yiled little or no serious effect.
Mbah further listed other substations that have been shut down by the unionists “Other transmission substations that were shut down, by the Labour Union include the Ganmo, Benin, Ayede, Olorunsogo, Akangba and Osogbo Transmission Substations. Some transmission lines were equally opened due to the ongoing activities of the labour union.
“On the power generating side, power generating units from different generating stations were forced to shut down some units of their generating plants, the Jebba Generating Station was forced to shut down one of its generating units while three others in the same substation subsequently shut down on very high frequency.
“The sudden forced load cuts led to high frequency and system instability, which eventually shut down the national grid at 2:19am.” He said
The spokesperson however assured Nigerians that the TCN “will continue to make effort to recover and stabilize the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide.”
