President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the sack of the management of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) over the strike by the Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE).
The strike by the NUEE left areas serviced by the AEDC without power for hours on Monday.
Some of the areas serviced by the company are; the federal capital territory (FCT), Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger states.
The workers were protesting unpaid allowances, salaries and unremitted pension deductions.
A statement issued by Ofem Uket, media aide of the Minister of state for power, on Tuesday, said the president approved a new interim governing board to oversee the day-to-day operations of the company.
The presidential directives as conveyed also directed the Bureau of Public Enterprises to set up a new management team of the AEDC,” the statement said.
“In a memorandum of understanding MOU, jointly signed by the minister of state power, Goddy Jedy Agba, the chairman Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC, Sanusi Garba, director-general, Bureau of Public Enterprises, Alex Okoli, comrade Joe Ajaero on behalf of the union, the federal government ordered the suspension of the strike (and asked to be) given 21 days within which the outstanding emoluments and entitlements of staff will be paid.”
We had on Monday reported that the AEDC workers shut down power facilities, as they embarked on an indefinite strike action over the non-payment of their 20-month entitlements.
They had put placards at the entrance of the offices.
Some of them had read; “Pay the remaining: batches of 2020 bonus”, “Pension remittances (19 months)”, “AEDC management pay us now.”
The company’s offices including its headquarters in Zone 4, Abuja were said to be under lock and key.
Meanwhile, the management of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has stated that due to the ongoing strike action, power evacuation from injection substations across AEDC franchise area was disrupted.
The areas under the AEDC franchise include Abuja, Nasarawa, Kogi and parts of Edo, Niger and Kaduna states.
