Modupe Gbadeyanka
By Taiwo Omilani
Some aggrieved members of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) yesterday stopped operations at the corporate headquarters of Ikeja Electric (IE) Plc in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos State, as well as branches of the company across the Lagos metropolis.
The labour union, while picketing the firm on Wednesday, claimed the action was as a result of disengagement of about 40 members of staff of IE recently.
During the protest by the workers yesterday, operations at the offices of Ikeja Electric were halted, thereby resisting access to IE personnel and customers who had attempted to gain access to the offices.
Speaking on the development, Head of Corporate Communications at IE, Mr Felix Ofulue, questioned the motive behind the protest which he described as self serving.
“When NUEE chooses to cripple socio-economic activities of over a million households, for issues that can be resolved through dialogue, one then wonders if the motives are as selfless as they claim.
“How do you plunge a country’s commercial nerve center into darkness because of a few of your members who have been separated from the business for cogent reasons. It is really appalling. It’s an abuse of privilege to picket,” he said.
“Imagine that our employees in Alausa Injection Sub Station were chased out of the facility by the Union and they had to shut down 9 Feeders that supply power to Ikeja and its environs on safety grounds. This has resulted in an immediate blackout for at least 3000 customers,” Mr Ofulue lamented.
He further apologized to customers for the disruption of service by NUEE, promising that they will continue to work with stakeholder to ensure that the company continues to improve and provide quality service to our customers.
