Individuals living in Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Kebbi states have been left in darkness due to a fresh strike action by the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO) workers.
According to reports making rounds online, the workers, organized under the Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees, had embarked on an indefinite strike on Tuesday to protest what they have deemed to be unfair treatment by the company’s management.
It was also reported that the workers were displeased with a number of issues, including DisCo’s dissent to pay six years’ worth of unpaid pensions, the company’s inadequacy to pay the death benefits of its deceased employees, the unfair dismissal of seven Zaria-based employees, and a reported plan to sack over a thousand employees.
However, the Kaduna Disco management, had come out with a statement released by Head of Corporate Communication Abdulazeez Abdullahi, to denounce the strike, tagging it “completely unjustified.”
In Abdulazeez’s words:
“For the union to pick this path at the very start of the holy month of Ramadan and cause more discomfort on hapless Nigerians by commencing on an ill-advised strike and forcing staff from carrying out their legitimate duties says a lot about its motive.”
Abdulazeez had further commented that the union’s request for the repayment of unpaid pension arrears was “part of the historic debts gathered under two previous management.”
“It is a wonder why the union failed to prioritise the payments then until now.This is just a clear indication that the union has other motives yet to be know to us,” he concluded.
