By ABAH SUNDAY, Abuja
The Organised Labour in Nigeria, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, has shut down the national power grid and it commenced an indefinite strike over minimum wage on Monday, resulting in nationwide blackout.
Announcing this in a statement issued by its general manager, Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, said the shut down happened at about 2.19am this Monday, 3rd June 2024.
According to TCN, at about 1:15am, 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 Centre was brought to zero.
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.
“At about 3.23am, however, TCN commenced grid recovery, using the Shiroro Substation to attempt to feed the transmission lines supplying bulk electricity to the Katampe Transmission Substation. The situation is such that the labour Union is still obstructing grid recovery nationwide.
“We will continue to make effort to recover and stabilise the grid to enable the restoration of normal bulk transmission of electricity to distribution load centres nationwide,” TCN said.
Labour had proposed N615,500 initially but as negotiations were going on between it and the federal government, it later dropped to N494,000 while the government side ultimately offered N60,000.
The groups, had on May 31, declared an indefinite strike, with effect from Monday, 3rd June, 2024 as the federal government refused to step up the bargain from the N60,000, let alone accepting the unions’ minimum wage proposal.
The concept of a minimum wage in Nigeria dates back to the 1950s. The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, as Premier of the Western Region, implemented the first minimum wage policy in 1954. Western Nigerian workers received a minimum wage that was double the amount paid to their counterparts in other regions.
The first National Minimum Wage Law was enacted by President Shehu Shagari in September 1981, spurred by the advocacy of the Nigerian Labour Congress led by Hassan Sunmonu. The law set a minimum wage of 125 naira per month, equivalent to approximately US$204 at the time.