NLC forces cut of power supply

The Kaduna State government and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) are set for a showdown as workers in the state began a five-day warning strike at midnight over the mass retrenchment of their colleagues.

The national leadership of the NLC had on May 10, ordered the work boycott with a vow to be physically present in the state till the Nasir El-Rufai government reinstated the sacked workers and changed its anti-labour policies. The team is expected to arrive in the state today.

But, the governor yesterday stood his ground, accusing the Ayuba Wabba-led NLC leadership of being hypocritical and an appendage of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Before the strike’s commencement, residents of the state had been thrown into darkness and made to spend hours at filling stations in search of petrol. The blackout started at 12 noon yesterday.

It was gathered that the NLC had   directed two of its affiliate unions –  the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) –  to withdraw their services in the state.

El-Rufai, in a terse tweet, insinuated that the   PDP was behind the labour union’s actions.

In the tweet, a response to a post by @PDPVanguard, a platform dedicated for the PDP on Twitter, the governor wondered why the NLC, which had yet to implement the National Minimum Wage Act 2019 for its own employees, should see his government as being anti-labour.

The tweet reads: “Fathers of all hypocrites: Kaduna will wait for you all – the invisible PDP and  affiliates like the hypocritical NLC that is yet to implement the National Minimum Wage Act, 2019 for its own employees.”

PDP Vanguard – @PDPVanguard had tweeted: “Mother of all Labour strikes: The tyrannical @elrufai’s led government threatens to arrest NCL President, Comrade Wabba.”

The Head of Service, Bariatu Muhammed and Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs,  Jafar Sani, had on Saturday maintained that the government would   not make a U-turn on the sacked workers.

They said at a news conference that the mass retrenchment was necessitated by dwindling revenues.

The two officials reminded Wabba that the 2017 warrant for his arrest over the alleged vandalisation of government facilities subsisted.

Earlier yesterday, the management of Kaduna Electric had attributed the power outage to the warning strike.

The company’s Head of Corporate Communications, Abdulazeez Abdullahi, appealed to “all communities, security agencies and vigilance groups to be vigilant so that men of the underworld will not cash in on the situation to vandalise power supply installations.”

Abdullahi said: “In compliance with the NLC directive, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN has knocked off all our 33KV lines in Kaduna State.”

“Any suspicious movement around distribution substations (transformers) should be reported to the relevant security agency.”

Kaduna Electric, according to him, appeals to both labour unions and the state government “to strive at an amicable resolution for normalcy to return.”

Yesterday morning, motorists thronged filling stations in Kaduna metropolis to fuel their vehicles.

Long queues were sighted  in   the stations like  A. M. Yola Petrol Station, Katsina Road;  Mobil Petrol Station, Waff Road;  A. Y. M Ashafa Petrol Station, Ahmadu Bello Way;  and Edi- Jen Petrol Station, also on  Ahmadu Bello Way.

James Audu, one of the motorists,   said he    decided to fill his vehicle tank out of fear that filling stations might not operate from today.

Another motorist,   Ibrahim Rasheed,   said that the panic buying was necessary to keep his  business going during the strike.

He said: “I am a fashion designer and need power to work. already electricity supply has been suspended, meaning that people like us will have to resort to generator and that cannot happen without fuel.”