Blackout has hit Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti states after electricity workers under the National Union of Electricity Employees shut down facilities of BEDC Electricity Plc over a dispute on emoluments and welfare packages.
At the company’s headquarters in Benin, NUEE officials stopped staff from entering the premises and shut down vital operational facilities, plunging the affected states into darkness from the early hours of on Monday.
Many workers were forced to leave their offices early, while management was reported to be in a meeting with the leadership of NUEE at press time.
A senior staff member of the company, who spoke to Vanguard in confidence, expressed shock at the union’s action. According to the source, “We are surprised at their action, some of them even harassed some of our staff trying to record their actions. The current management recently reviewed their emoluments, I am surprised that they shut down facilities of the company.”
Several calls to the Edo State Chairman of NUEE, Williams Uwumarogie, were not picked.
However, the acting State Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Bernard Egwakide, disclosed that the union had earlier intervened in the labour dispute. He said, “But right now, the leadership of NUEE is in a meeting with the management of the company, let us see how far they can resolve it, that will determine if we will intervene.”
