Civil Society groups, in collaboration with the Citizens’ Access to Electricity Initiatives (CATEIN), on Tuesday resumed the picketing of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company over lingering power outages and the sack of 400 workers

The groups barricaded the Ikeja DISCO Office in Lagos, asking the company to address the contending issues.

NAN recalls that Organised Labour had picketed the company for three days in March, over its disengagement of 400 workers.

The picketing was, however, suspended after the Ikeja Disco reached an agreement with the National Union of Electricity Workers (NUEE) and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to set up a committee to monitor its performance appraisal and competency assessment process.

Mr Joseph Emmanuel, CATEIN’s General Secretary, told NAN that the protest was to register their displeasure over poor service delivery in electricity supply across the country.

According to Emmanuel, the protest is to sensitise Nigerians against injustice in electricity service delivery, as well as the case of the sacked workers.

He said that the distribution companies should be able to provide meters to measure electricity consumption.

“But this is not so. Rather, the companies smile to the banks at the expense of Nigerians. The businesses of workers in the informal sector have all been shut. We cannot continue this way.”

He said that the group would continue to mount pressure on all the distribution companies in the country, until adequate electricity supply was provided.

Mr Felix Ofolue, Head, Public Communications of IKEDC, said that the company pulled out of the negotiation because it was not progressing.

Ofolue said that the issues raised by the civil society groups were not peculiar to the company because they were national issues.

He, however, gave an assurance that the company would soon resume discussion with the unions, to find lasting solutions on the problems. (NAN)

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