Kola Balogun, chairman of the Momas Electricity Meter Manufacturing Company (MEMMCOL), has accused President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) of economic sabotage.

Mr Balogun stated this on Thursday in Lagos.

NUEE had on Wednesday grounded activities at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) controlled power stations plunging the nation into darkness.

The union had, however, suspended the strike for two weeks following a meeting with the representatives of Mr Buhari’s regime to look into their demands.

Mr Balogun noted that allowing the shutdown showed a lack of coherence in communication between the regime and the electricity workers’ union.

“The parties should not have allowed it to aggravate to the extent of shutting down the systems,” he stated. “It is a big economic sabotage, and it is like taking the country for granted. In any civilised country, that kind of thing will not be allowed to happen. It is like a coup against the nation for some people to shut down the entire power plants.”

The Momas chair added that the shutdown could have endangered Nigerians having life-saving surgeries at hospitals at the time and damaged several expensive machines used for production by manufacturers.

He further mentioned that it also could have caused the outage at the nation’s airports which might have put the lives of thousands of air travellers at risk.

“For a nation to allow its power systems to be shut down is a disaster to the image of that country. We have to be serious with issues that have to do with our national development,” Mr Balogun explained. “When Labour made its position known to the government that these are their grievances, it is the responsibility of any of the sector’s players or agencies responsible for addressing the demands to call them to order.”

The Momas boss stressed that “it is their (Mr Buhari’s regime and the NUEE) duty to make sure that they reach a compromise. 

“In life, generally, people must reach a compromise for them to move forward. That is what I expect them to do within the period of this two-week ultimatum,” he explained. “They have to reach a compromise and not take Nigerians for granted. It doesn’t speak well of a country who wants investors to come in.”

The NUEE, in a notice signed by its general secretary, Joe Ajaero, had directed its members to stop work effective August 17. The union had issued a 14-day ultimatum to the TCN chief executive officer on May 18, threatening to down tools if the regime did not meet the NUEE’s complaints.

“You are hereby enjoined to mobilise immediately for serious picketing of TCN Headquarters and Stations nationwide over the directive by the TCN Board that all PMs in acting capacity going to AGM must appear for a promotion interview,” the letter said. “This directive is in contravention of our conditions of service and career progression paths and was unilaterally done without the relevant stakeholders’ input.”

The union also decried the failure of the authorities to pay the entitlement of former staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in December 2019. 

(NAN)