Strike Cripples Business At Enugu PHCN

Business activities were Friday crippled at the Power
Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Enugu office, following the industrial
action embarked upon by staff members of the company.

Some customers that visited the complex for business
transactions were stranded as nobody attended to them.

Some of the customers described the strike as “uncalled-for
and a punishment for innocent citizens.’’

A customer who came to recharge her card, Miss Chinyere Aka,
said the management of PHCN should have considered their customers’ interest by
providing staff members that would attend to customers before embarking on
strike.

She called on the government to look into the issues that
led the workers to embark on the industrial action in the interest of the
people.

Another customer, Mr James Philips, said the strike was
unnecessary especially now that Nigeria was confronted with security challenges
and other economic hardship.

Philips, who said that the strike would make life
uncomfortable for the masses, urged the PHCN to make the interest and comfort
of its customers its first priority.

“PHCN should always consider the interest of its customers
as well as the economic loss its action will have on the masses. “We, the
customers provide the money PHCN workers enjoy as salary, so we deserve the
best,’’ he said.

A top official of the company, who spoke to newsmen on
condition of anonymity, said the strike was due to the privatisation of the
PHCN.

“The privatisation will cause a lot of problems for us the
old staff as we are yet to know our fate under the new owners of the company.

“If the situation is not well managed by government, the
experience of former NITEL staff will be a child’s play to our situation. “How
can the government privatise a company without considering the interest of the
staff members; as I am talking to you now, we have not received our July
salary,’’ he lamented.

When contacted on telephone, the Public Relations Officer of
PHCN, Mr Eseme Udoh, who declined comment on the strike, however, said that
normal activities were going on at the complex.