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Wednesday, 16 March, 2016 Editor: Kehinde Oyetimi featuresdesk@yahoo.com 08111845048
features
For Lagosians, it’s still no respite from blackout
Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and affiliate bodies picketing Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company’s head office at Alausa, Lagos over the sack of 300 workers, recently. PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA. Bola Badmus and Olatunde Dodondawa -Lagos
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AST week, the entire length and breadth of Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria, was thrown into total darkness as result of the electricity company in charge, the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC), not supplying electricity to nearly almost all consumers under its coverage. The IKEDC covers a large of area of Lagos State and its environs, including Abule Egba, Ikorodu, Shomolu, Akowonjo, Ikeja, Oshodi and some parts of Ogun State. This is of course a wide jurisdiction that it has been given license to operate and ensure that consumers enjoy its services. Since the blackout, residents in areas like Ketu, Magodo, the whole of Ikeja and Agege to Ipaja and Ayobo among others have suffered immense hardship as they have to make do with an alternative source of electricity, namely generating sets, only possible by those who could afford to queue long hours to buy fuel in an era when fuel scarcity is biting harder. In particular, our correspondents have had on occasion witnessed protesters coming to lodge complaints at the headquarters of IKEDC located along Obafemi Awolowo Way, opposite the Lagos State Government Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja. The complaint has often been that they wanted pre-paid meters instead of the current estimated billing system, which the consumers believe amounted
to deliberate sharp practices by the electricity distribution company. On one of such occasions, the IKEDC did assure that efforts were being put in place to ensure that every household gets a pre-paid meter as demanded by the consumers who are certainly opposed to over-billing for services not enjoyed. However, the cause of the latest blackout, according to findings, was largely due to the recent sack of about 278 workers of the IKEDC. Following the sack of the affected workers, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) felt they could not condone this action by the company as they mobilised their members from across the state, to occupy the
Since the blackout, residents in areas like Ketu, Magodo, the whole of Ikeja and Agege to Ipaja and Ayobo among others have suffered immense hardship.
premises of IKEDC, led by the National President of NUEE, Comrade Martin Uzoegwu who came in from Calabar to join his members. The protesters, who numbered over 2,000, came in several fully loaded BRT buses and completely blocked the main gate to the IKEDC office with one of the buses. They started the occupation from Monday till Wednesday evening last week when an agreement was eventually said to have been reached between them and the management of IKEDC. They also came with various musical instruments as they danced and marched up and down the Obafemi Awolowo Way, where the office was located, carrying posters on which inscriptions like “Say no estimated billing,” “No, no, no, we can’t continue to pay for darkness,” among others were written. The unions did not only involve their members, they also mobilised the local people from different communities, including Agege, Itire- Ijesa, Ikate, among others to join in sealing off IKEDC to ensure that management or staff of the company did not gain entrance. According to General Secretary, NUEE, Joe Ajaero, many of the consumers drawn into the struggle were from, “many of the local governments who believe in what we are doing, who are not served well, who are being given estimated billings, and who don’t have power supply.” Speaking with newsmen, Ajaero, said the IKEDC management had not yet created
room for any dialogue since the protest began and that their demands were clear and unambiguous. According to him, he and others were protesting against the sack of almost 400 workers by the distribution company without due process and the poor services the company rendered to the consumers, saying that for the past three weeks, IKEDC had not been picking loads thereby reducing power supply to Lagos. “They sacked almost 400 people without due process. They render poor services. For the past three weeks, they have not been picking loads, thereby reducing power supply to Lagos,” he said. “Now they allow people to work without safety materials which led to electrocution. They lack conditions of service and think they are above the law. These are some of the issues,” Ajaero added. The labour leader insisted that the sack of the affected workers was not the solution, lamenting that electricity distribution workers suffered molestation unjustly from consumers who thought they were the cause of poor services. On his part, National President of NUEE, Comrade Nzoegwu, said the protest was borne out of the sack of the almost 400 workers of the company, an action which he described as injustice, inhuman and barbaric. “As a matter of fact, we are here to protest against the victimisation of the workers of Continues pg28