Minister of State for Power, Mr Mohammed Wakil (middle), welcoming the Chairman, Super Solar Nigeria, Prof. Jerry Gana (right), during a courtesy call on the Minister in Abuja recently. With them is the President, Dacc Alternative Energy Company, Usa, Mr Melon Douglas. Photo: NAN

There is indication that au
thorities of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) have commenced a process to muffle unionism in its operations.
A form which is being distributed to all staff and also made available to The Tide demands the staff to indicate interest in union participation.
The Tide gathered from an authoritative source that any staff who indicates interest in any form of unionism, will automatically fall within the group to be laid-off in the company’s performance assessment.
Our source who is a  prominent executive member of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) during the PHCN era confirmed the development and said workers are being wary of the scaring column in the form were indicating no interest as a strategy to protect their jobs.
“I have been going round to the workers from one Business Unit to the other telling them not to show interest to enable them scale through the huddle.  But I tell you, by the time the workers are through with the exercise, the union will have a way of ensuring that workers’ rights are protected”, our source said.
He maintained that nobody or any establishment can deny the workers their right to unionism which is being given to them by the constitution.
Our source also disclosed that similar signals have been given to workers in all the power companies across the nation.
“By all means, the private investors do not want active workers union in their operations.  This is an obvious way of showing that in due course they have many things against the welfare of the staff and that’s why they are not comfortable with active unionism.  But we shall fight them back constitutionally”, he stated.
He also revealed that persons from Rivers and Bayelsa States were targeted and sacked during the transition process from PHCN to private investors, remarking that majority of those sacked by the new investors in both states were the indigenes because those at the helm of affairs were non-Rivers and Bayelsa people.
It would be recalled that the Managing Director of 4 Power Consortium Limited, Engr Mattew Edevbie, told journalists in a public function in Port Harcourt recently that a thorough and rigorous staff assessment exercise was on in PHED and that the result would be made public at the end of May.
Efforts to reach the Assistant General Manager, Public Affairs of PHEDC, Mr Obi Onuwah for reaction, could not yield positive result as calls placed through his phone could not go through at the time of filing this story.

Chris Oluoh