The blackout option employed by workers of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) worked like magic putting paid to the darkness that enveloped Abuja, Nasarawa, and parts of Kogi, Niger and Kaduna states on Monday.
By about 9.00 p.m. power supply was restored as the Federal Government reached an agreement with the leadership of the National Union of Electricity Employees to suspend the indefinite strike they embarked upon following outstanding entitlements of 20 months.
The decision was reached few hours after the commencement of the industrial action by the workers.
The agreement to pay the outstanding allowances was reached by the leadership of the National Union of Electricity Employee, the Bureau of Public Enterprise and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission at the conference room of the Minister of Power on Monday.
This was contained in a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Minister of State, Power, Goddy Jeddy Agba; BPE DG, Alex A Okoh; GS of NUEE, Joe Ajaero; Chairman NERC, Sanusi Garba and the FCT Council, Godfrey Aba.
The parties said in the MoU that, “At the end of the expansive between the leadership of NUEE and relevant government institutions in the power sector over the industrial action which affected the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) franchise area regarding area regarding the unresolved dispute with the management of AEDC over unpaid entitlements, it was agreed as follows:
“Government intervened with the firm arrangement to ensure the payment of the outstanding entitlements of AEDC staff within twenty one days counting from the date of the signing of the MoU.
“And based on the foregoing, the industrial action is here by suspended.”
The members of staff of AEDC were demanding the payment of their 2020 bonus and other entitlements.
They also demanded the remittance of pensions deducted by the company to their Pension Fund Administrators.
The union alleged that the remittances have not been made for the past 19 months.
On why they embarked on the strike, the workers had the aggrieved workers said they were owed over N41billion by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Godfrey Abah, FCT Chairman of the National Union of Electricity Employee, said the union opted for the strike rather than suing the CBN because a lawsuit would be a futile battle as the only language the government understood was strike.
He told an online newspaper that if NUEE had sued CBN, the case may not have a major headway in the next five years, noting that the apex bank had the funds to hire the best lawyers while NUEE workers would be languishing in penury.
He said Nigeria’s slow judicial system was unreliable to hasten the payment of outstanding fees to workers.