Electricity Firms And Workers’ Demands

Considering the high premium placed on
improved electricity power generation
and distribution in Nigeria and the successful implementation of the federal government’s privatisation policy, nothing should be allowed to truncate that high national aspiration.
Since the successful implementation of the process, the power sector has attracted national and international attention with the hope of addressing the perenial poor electricity service delivery in the land.
It was to ensure hitchfree process that the fedearl government undertook the careful verification of old PHCN staff and eventual payment of severeance claims.
For once, most Nigerians believe that the power sector reforms being pursued by government would indeed yield positive results as a few power infrastructure have already come on stream while others are still in progress.
But just as millions of Nigerians, especially those who reside and do business in the Niger Delta, where, the bulk of Nigerian electricity is generated, are beginning to expect a turn-around in power supply, workers in the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC), threatened to down tools, if the severance benefits of their colleagues who were disengaged under the old PHCN were not completely paid. Besides, the workers are also insisting that their rights and freedoms are being infringed upon by their new employers, who they claim, have disallowed them from unionising.
In a bid to show solidarity with the workers and also help them compel the new PHEDC management to accede to their demands, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the umbrella body of most labour unions in the country, last week, embarked on the picketing of PHEDC facilities and offices across the South South. The picketing exercise caused serious panic among watchers of the sector, disrupted activities in PHEDC, and also resulted in partial disruption in power supply.
Indeed, we feel particularly worried by the claims of the PHEDC workers. We feel so because only recently, the Federal Government said that all PHCN workers have been paid their severance packages as agreed with the leaders of the electricity union. In fact, the Federal Government did not end there, it went further to say that anyone who claims not to have been paid his or her severance package might obviously be a ghost worker. We also believe that the disagreement over whether or not to allow the workers unionise could have serious implications not just for electricity consumers, but also for the region’s economy.
The Tide thinks that having come this far in the power sector privatisation process, the action of every stakeholder must be laced with caution in order not to truncate the good intentions of government. This plea has become even more compelling as electricity supply across the country appears to be dropping by the day because of what government attributes to vandalism of electricity installations.
We expect the Federal Government to double check its commitments and ensure that all outstanding obligations to the electricity workers are met. We also expect the power distribution companies to provide the workers conditions of service and welfare packages in line with industry best practices while ensuring an enabling environment for workers to exercise their rights to associate freely. Besides, the labour leaders should realise that they need the companies just as the companies need them to enhance their shared interests, which also includes the creation of jobs and provision of viable opportunities for workers to achieve their best possible career goals.
Even so, we think that the best option would be for the Federal Government, the power firms and the labour leaders to come to the negotiating table with a view to averting any shutdown in the sector. We urge the labour leaders to understand that strike is not the best option, as dialogue would ultimately provide the answer to the divergent issues in contention.
It is only by resorting to jaw-jaw rather than war-war that labour leaders, and indeed, unions would be seen as major contributors to the attraction of foreign direct investments and the growth and sustainable development of the economy.