The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NUEE

  • NUEE pickets BEDC in Edo

    The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) yesterday picketed the headquarters of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) over alleged poor condition of service for its staffer.

    Members of NUEE were clad in red and they stormed the BEDC office as early as 7am.

    The entrance gate was put under lock and key thereby preventing top management staff and other workers from gaining access to their offices.

    Deputy President of NUEE (NUEE) Comrade Christian Omoneh, said the picketing was to protest attempt to enslave Nigerians by the board and management of the BEDC.

    Omomeh said the BEDC has been paying half salaries to its workers for the past 35 years.

    In its reaction, spokesman for the BEDC, Mr. Tayo Adekunle, said the picketing was condemnable and preemptive.His words, “We condemn the picketing of our head office. It came to us as a surprise. What they are proposing is in line with the public sector and not the private sector. This is an act of lawlessness and sabotage. Many of our staff are not members of NUEE. Why should they stop them from carrying out their duties?”

  • NUEE to FG: Expose sponsors of pipeline vandalism

    The Nigeria Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), have tasked the federal government to fish out sponsors and masterminds behind pipeline vandalism in the country.

    Comrade Joe Ajaero, factional President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said this Thursday at the 3rd Triennial Conference held at Wallan Hotel, Ibadan.

    According to him, power plants in Nigeria are gas-fired thermal plants and inadequate gas supply has largely been responsible for the suboptimal performance of the plants.

    “30 years ago till now we are still talking about vandals and no solutions to it. Who are those people breaking pipelines?, and when they do the government will award contract for it to be fixed again. Why can’t government identify who is breaking it and how much is been used to repair it again?

    “Let government come out to tell us how much they are using to repair broken pipelines and who are the sponsors of pipeline vandalism? When these questions are answered then there will be solution to it. Nigeria is one of the countries that is suffering from power poverty because the international best practice is that for where you have one million you must have 1,000 Megawatts, but here we have 3,000 Megawatts for 170 million people.”

    The union boss said he has great respect for President Muhammadu Buhari and believes he will not play politics with the power situation in the country.

    He described the promise by President Buhari to generate 10,000 Megawatts of electricity generation as unrealistic.

    Ajaero said:” Does he take 10,000 Megawatts as a figure or it was base on what was on ground?, because the gestation period for any power plant is between three to four years and if they have not started building anyone now how will that be possible?.

    “I have not seen construction of power plants to the tune of 10,000 Megawatts, even if it is been built I have not see the transmission network and half of the transformer are bad presently.

    “I have once challenged the Minister for Information, Lai Mohammed to a debate as the spokesperson of the government to address Nigerians on how why we are not having power and how they aim to solve power problem in the country. We need to know their policy base on power, because Nigerians needs to know how the government intends to resolve the problem.”

     

  • NUEE petitions NBA over PHCN liquidation

    Electricity workers under the aegis of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) have petitioned the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) urging it to prevail on its member, Mr. Joe Gadzama (SAN) to allow due process on labour issues agreed upon between the Federal Government and the unions in the power sector in the privatization of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

    NUEE in the petition to NBA General Secretary claimed that Gadzama was insisting on liquidating PHCN despite the fact that the contractual agreement, which he was relying on to liquidate PHCN allegedly expired on October 18, 2015, without renewal.

    NUEE in the petition through its General Secretary, Mr. Joe Ajaero read in part: “Our worries stem from five basic issues viz: The so called Contractual Agreement which he (Gadzama) is laying claim to liquidate PHCN expired on the 18th of October, 2015. However, he served his notice of liquidation on the 23rd October, 2015. It becomes a mystery the source of his power to liquidate PHCN.”

    The Union’s petition dated October 30, 2015 and made available to The Nation, said meanwhile the so called agreement has not been renewed. The statement said although, Gadzama claimed to have met with the employees and their representatives for their Avong’s, such claim is totally false. “We never met with them” Ajaero said.

  • Workers picket electricity company in Bayelsa

    Workers picket electricity company in Bayelsa

    Members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) Thursday picketed the office of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

    Scores of officials of labour unions stormed the premises of the PHED located along the Opolo axis of the Mbiama-Yenagoa Road in the morning and barricaded it.

    They locked the gates of the company and prevented people including employees of PHEDC from entering and leaving the office.

    They carried placards with inscriptions such as “PHED stop intimidation and slavery”, “Freedom of Association should not be denied staff”, “We want a stop to institutionalized casual contract appointment in PHED”, and “Workers of PHED should be treated as responsible people”, were placed on the gates.

    The factional Chairman of NLC in the state, Mr. Fred Oruseibo, listed arbitrary dismissal and termination of appointments of employees without cogent reasons as part of the grievances of the workers.

    Oruseibo who is also State Chairman of NUEE also said the company had deliberately refused to negotiate its procedural agreement and conditions of service of staff with labour.

    He said: “The most annoying part is that most of their workers are casuals. We all know that casualisation of workers is against the convention of the International Labour Organisation and against Nigerian labour laws and they refuse to negotiate the conditions of service with the staff. They did that in order to enslave the workers.

    “Again, not too long ago when they came and bought the company, they inherited staff that has been working in the company and about thirty-three operators were sacked.

    “These operators were on a salary scale of about N100, 000 to N150, 000 in a month, but they contracted their jobs to contractors who are now offering to pay N20, 000 and N30, 000.The workers refused and because of that they were sacked without any cogent reason.”

    NUEE in a letter dated July 23, issued a 14-day ultimatum to the PHED to review casualization and contract appointment of workers as well as recall sacked employees or face picketing of its business premises.

    Efforts to reach the company’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Jonah Ibomah, proved abortive as his phone rang out.

  • NUEE blames firms for poor power supply

    The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has blamed  owners of privatised power companies for poor power supply.

    Speaking to journalists in Lagos, its General Secretary, who also doubles as the Deputy President of the National Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero, explained that profit motive had been a key factor militating against the performance of the private power sector.

    “Because the private owners are interested and thinking about maximising profit, they needed to reduce workforce and increase electricity tariff.

    “Unfortunately, the end result is constant decrease in power supply. A year before the privatisation, we met with President Goodluck Jonathan and gave analysis that power transmission and infrastructure should be improved upon by the state, because  if the private sector should be mandated to do it, they would have to borrow money from the banks at an interest rate that will be a burden on the consumers.

    He said: “However, if the government were sincere about the privatisation exercise, it should have massively mobilised for the availability of prepaid meters, thereby enabling a proper billing to which also I am sure that distribution companies would not want to absolutely subscribe to because they will not be able to realise their desired objective of maximising profit.”

    He emphasised the need for prepaid metering to address the issue of estimated billings.

  • Blackout imminent as NLC issues seven-day ultimatum

    Blackout imminent as NLC issues seven-day ultimatum

    THE southern part of the country may be plunged into darkness as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) at the weekend gave a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Government and investors in the power sector.

    The union is asking the government and investors to resolve issues on the working condition of workers of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

    The ultimatum lapses next Friday after which the union vowed to act if government fails to meet up with its demands.

    At a meeting with the officials of the Nigeria Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) held in Akure, Ondo State, NLC said government should address the issues raised before the ultimatum in order to guarantee industrial peace and harmony in the power sector.

    The meeting was attended by NLC Executives from 14 states in the Southwest, South South, Kwara and Kogi States.

    A communique read by the Chairperson of NLC in Ondo State, Mrs. Bosede Daramola, at the end of the meeting frowned at the epileptic power supply in the country.

    It lamented the alleged exploitation of the masses by the buyers of the electricity distribution companies.

    Besides, the workers said the ongoing action of the new investors to de-unionise workers in the power sector was unacceptable, and called on the Federal Government to caution the investors.

    Part of the Communique reads “ The meeting in session condemn in strong terms the victimization of labour leaders and the failure of the federal government to call the investors in the power sector to order in tandem with the tripartite agreement reached with the organised labour on January 13 so as to promote industrial harmony which is key to our national productivity”.

    “The meeting in session called on the federal government and all the companies to as a matter of national interest for a prosperous economy address all the issues canvassed within seven days from the date of this communique in order to guarantee industrial peace and harmony in the power sector as the labour movement will resist any attempt to balkanise the movement by either individual or group in whatever disguise or name.

    “That the labour movement should not be held responsible for any action taken to drive home their demands, if the government fails to address the issues after the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum.”

    The unions urged the federal government to as a matter of urgency direct the recall of all union leaders disengaged as a result of transfer of ownership of the power sector.

    The General Secretary of NUEE, Comrade Joe Ajero, said the investors in the power sector had been making life miserable for members of the union.

    Ajero, who spoke through the Central Executive Committee member, Benson Okorodudu, said the investors had been trying to ensure that the workers do not have a voice in the society.

    He said those that had laboured to keep the system going and agreed with government on the privatisation were being made to suffer as their entitlements were not paid to them.

     

  • ‘Stable power by June not feasible’

    ‘Stable power by June not feasible’

    The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has faulted the June deadline given to the private sector power firms to stabilise power in the country, saying it is not possible.

    Its President, Mansur Umar said there was no way the firms can meet the deadline, considering the enormous gas problems in the sector.

    He said: “If the government knew the problem was gas, why did it hand over the sector to the private sector operators? The government should have addressed the gas supply problem. Even within six months, will the gas problem be over especially with the ways and manners power stations are sited. Rather than site the station close to the source of gas, they site it in places where it would be difficult to connect gas pipelines to the plants.

    ‘’The same minister had equally said before that he was afraid whether some of the investors have the capacity to revive the sector or change some of the facilities sold to them. This has raised the question whether there was due diligence or whether they knew the capacity of these investors before selling the plants to them.’’

    On workers’plight, Umar said the workers are daily being disengaged by the new power investors.

    He said: ‘’The kind of private sector you have in Nigeria is such that operators ask workers to go orally. It is a terrible private sector and we have tried to condone them for the first, two and three months because Nigerians would say we disrupted their activities that is why they are not performing.

     

    The poor power situation in the country would have been blamed on the union if we had engaged them immediately they started all these anti-labour practices. But we are going to engage them from now. Wherever they are, from today, they should be aware that for every anti-labour policy they take, we are going to engage them.”

  • NUEE begins members’ verification for severance benefits

    The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), an umbrella body for all junior workers in the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), said a verification has begun to ascertain the identities of its members that who either dead or alive.

    Speaking to The Nation, its National President, Mansur Musa said the development became necessary in order to know workers who are genuine or fake and further fight for their entitlements.

    Musa said the exercise would enable the body to be in a good position to demand for the rights of its workers.

    He said the exercise would be accompanied with pressures to compel the government to pay all the outstanding benefits owed its members.

    The body, Musa said, has watched events in the sector closely, and has come to the conclusion that the government is not interested in paying all the workers in the sector. He said the claims by the government that it has paid all the workers their entitlements were not correct, adding that some workers have not received their packages.

    He said: “We are verifying the names of members that are either dead or alive to get a good picture of them. It is not going to take eternity to fight and win the battle because we have facts intact. If there is nothing on ground after the expiration of the deadline given the government to address the issue of paying the entitlements of all the workers, we would come together and mount serious pressure on the government to acquiesce to our demands.”

    Musa said the development was informed by the perceived non-responsive attitude of the government towards the workers. He said the exercise would help in blocking any loopholes the government is trying to capitalise on to deny workers their entitlements.

    According to him, the need to settle the severance entitlements ranging from pension component, gratuity, retirement, death benefits and other labour issues once and for all is imperative for the growth of the sector.

    NUEE Secretary, Joe Ajaero said the 10 per cent equity shareholdings for workers collectively agreed upon has been jettisoned, while salaries and wages of the employees have been unilaterally reduced.

    Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Sam Amadi, had said the government has paid the workers, arguing that they therefore, do not have right to disrupt the privatisation process.

  • NUEE faults govt’ deadline to electricity firms

    NUEE faults govt’ deadline to electricity firms

    The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has faulted the June deadline given to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) by the Federal Government to stabilise power supply in the country, saying it is not feasible.

    Its General Secretary, Comrade Joe Ajaero, said the workers were shocked by the ultimatum given by the Minister of Power, Prof Chinedu Nebo, arguing that the minister had earlier identified shortage of gas as the major cause of the instability.

    He said: “If he knew the problem was gas, why did he hand over the sector to private operators? He should have addressed the gas supply problem first. Even within six months, will the gas problem be over, especially with the political siting of power stations in Nigeria? You site a power station at 200 or 300 kilometres  away from the source of gas because you are a minister, you want a power station to be sited in your state.

    “Rather than site the power stations close to the source of gas, they sited the stations in their states and you then construct a pipeline from the gas source to where the power plant is situated.”

    He continued: “Every now and then, you will say the pipeline has been vandalised or sabotaged. So long as the distance between the stations and gas source are far, so long as we depend on gas, the mandate the minister has given them will remain a mirage. It will not be actualised.

    “The same minister had equally said before that he was afraid whether some of the investors have the capacity to revive the sector or change some of the facilities sold to them. This has raised the question whether there was due diligence or whether they knew the capacity of these investors before selling the plants to them.”

    He added: “Nevertheless, it is too late for all these. We have to live with these investors. We have applied a drug on a patient; we have to wait and watch the effect. I want to appeal to Nigerians to exercise patience and see the effect of this drug.”

    On the plight of workers in the sector, Ajaero said it was serious.

    “The issue of disengagement is happening daily.The kind of private sector you have in Nigeria is such that operators ask workers to go orally. It is a terrible private sector and we have tried to tolerate them for the first, two and three months because Nigerians would say, we disrupted their activities;  that is why they are not performing.

    “The poor power situation in the country would have been blamed on the union if we had engaged them mmediately they started all these anti-labour practices. But we are going to engage them from now. Wherever they are, from today, they should be aware that for every anti-labour policy they take, we are going to engage them.

    “Some of them have the pedigree of being anti-labour inside out. With such people, you know that it is going to be very interesting. In the next few months, some of the stations would be very hot,” Ajaero warned.

    He said for firms that refuse to recognise workers’ rights, the union would tackle them, adding that whether that brings any problem to power situation in the country will not be the union’s  business.

    He said: “We have given them time to stabilise, but not to distabilise or enslave the workers.

    “However, in some places because of the number of workers sacked, they are equally re-engaging. In many places, they are reengaging. They have discovered that the job cannot go on because of the number of workers disengaged. It is a question of disengaging and reengaging with a whole lot of issues coming up.”

  • Fed Govt, electricity workers agree on severance payment deadline

    Fed Govt, electricity workers agree on severance payment deadline

    The Federal Government and the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) have agreed that payment of severance benefits to former workers of PHCN would be completed by end of January 2014.

    This is contained in a resolution reached at the end of a reconciliatory meeting between the two in response to 14 days ultimatum letter by the NUEE.

    The resolution which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja yesterday was signed by Dr Clement Illoh, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity.

    Others were Amb. Godknows Igali, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Power, (FMP), Mrs Omojola Martina, Represntative of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), and Mr Mansur Musa, National President, NUEE.

    Mr Olusegun Babatunde, General Secretary NUEE, Mr Bede Opara, President General, Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC) AND Mr Abiodun Ogunsegha, General Secretary, SSAEAC also signed.

    They resolved that: “The allegation of non-payment of entitlements to staff covering July 2012 should be referred back to the implementation committee for conclusion within January 2014.

    “The complaint of victimisation of labour leaders to be handled by the FMP and BPE in accordance with extant regulations within January 2014.

    “ Workers who are being owed salary arrears and have not been severed will be paid by the Federal Government and should stay in position until they are paid.

    “The FMP and BPE would fund a workshop to be organised by Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity in the first week of February 2014 for the new investors, unions and other stakeholders in the industry.’’

    They also resolved that all admitted casuals would also be paid on or before the end of March 2014 while progressive payments would be tracked.

    It directed that all pensions should be processed and payments effected accordingly.

    “Furthermore, the 7.5 per cent employer pension contribution of July 2012 to Oct. 31, 2013 will be paid.

    “Payment of deductions from Nov. 1, 2013 to date will be paid by the new operators into workers Retirement Savings Accounts (RSA).

    “BPE and FMP are to fast track approval and payment of death benefits to beneficiaries within one month’’, it was further agreed.

    On staff re-engagement letters said to be withheld by some new investors, it was agreed that the BPE should submit comprehensive list of the re-engaged staff for confirmation.

    It also directed the implementation committee to set up verification subcommittee to establish payment of certain entitlements listed in agreement of Oct. 2013 and identify those stations that had paid or not.

    The resolution stated that any reduction in the stoppage of salaries and wages of staff by the new investors was a violation of Section 21 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005.

    It directed that such deductions should be reversed by defaulting operators where it occurred.

    “BPE should submit the list of the 483 unclear Retirement Savings Account (RSA) Holders to the technical sub-committee for rectification.