Discos Lose N2.5bn to One-Day Strike by NUEE

August 22, 2022
NUEE protest at Ikeja Electric

By Adedapo Adesanya

The one-day industrial action carried out by members of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), which led to the shutdown of businesses on Thursday, August 18, 2022, has caused the 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) in Nigeria to lose about N2.5billion in revenue.

The electricity workers, during the one-day strike, shut down the engines of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and with the national grid down, the nation was in darkness.

The Executive Director of Research and Advocacy at the transmission company, Mr Sunday Oduntan, expressed worries that the action may weaken investors’ confidence and interest in the country’s power sector.

He said if the industrial action, which lasted less than a day, had persisted for one week, it would have been capable of bringing the entire power sector value chain to a total collapse.

Mr Oduntan said the FG’s failure to address some of the concerns of the union, which NUEE said it had raised and notified them of the same since May this year, led to the strike.

He said there is a misalignment in the power sector value chain and challenged the federal government to ensure that the nation does not experience such as well as look into the privatisation of the TCN like was done for distribution companies (Discos) and generation companies (Gencos).

He maintained that the transmission arm of the power sector value chain is the most problematic, advising the government to let go of it and allow private operators to come in to run it in an efficient and effective manner.

He also disclosed that under the current structure, the TCN is not capable of wheeling out the total quantum of electricity generated by the GenCos because it lacks the capacity to do so.

On cost reflective tariff, he said the players in the sector cannot pretend not to know that all is not well because the tariff as presently in operation is not capable of meeting the demands in the sector, adding that this was responsible for underinvestment in the industry.

Adedapo Adesanya

Adedapo Adesanya is a journalist, polymath, and connoisseur of everything art. When he is not writing, he has his nose buried in one of the many books or articles he has bookmarked or simply listening to good music with a bottle of beer or wine. He supports the greatest club in the world, Manchester United F.C.

Leave a Reply

exempt corporate bonds from tax
Previous Story

SEC Urges FG to Exempt Corporate Bonds from Tax

NASD Unlisted Securities Index
Next Story

NASD OTC Exchange Index Drops 1.07% in Week 33

Latest from General

Don't Miss