Planned Strike: Power Minister Intervenes in Electricity Unions, TCN Faceoff

• Says demand for 100% salary increase unreasonable

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, yesterday called on the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) and  staff of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to embrace dialogue over the issues of welfare and wages.

He also enjoined the labour unions to be realistic in their demands for increase in allowances, a statement in Abuja made available to journalists by the minister’s spokesman, Bolaji Tunji, stated.

The minister made the appeal in a meeting with the  unions and management of TCN in his office in Abuja. His intervention followed a fresh move by the workers to embark on industrial action over demands for increase in their salaries and allowances.

Adelabu asked the unions to consider the sensitivity of the industry to the economy of the country and other measures being taken by the federal government to improve the working conditions of Nigerian workers.

Adelabu told the union leaders that the government was not against salary increase for the workers, but explained that the dwindling revenue of the country has made it imperative that everyone must be reasonable in their demands.

He said: “Nobody is against an increase in what you earn. You must enjoy yourself because that is why you are working and when you are happy at your work, that is when you can give your maximum. So, you must be well remunerated.

“However, where we have found ourselves in our revenue earnings as a nation is such that we must be realistic in our demands. We must see this company as our own and work with the management to keep it moving. I want to appeal to you to stop this attitude of locking your management out at every turn of events.

“ Let us embrace peace and work together for the good of the company and the development of our nation”, the minister said, adding that the entire earnings of the company cannot be utilised for personnel cost alone. “The company will be wrecked when we do that and all of us will head back home when that happens,” he argued.

The unions are demanding a 100  per cent increase in their salaries and allowances which the minister said would raise the wage bill of the company to about N4 billion monthly, a move which he said would be unsustainable.

At the meeting were the Managing Directors of TCN, Abdul-Aziz Sule, MD of Nigeria Independent System Operator (NISO, Mohammed Bello and the management of the two workers’ unions. The unions were represented by Opaluwa Eleojo and Dennis Ufene for NUEE and John Okoro as well as Solomon Kigbu for the SSAEAC.