The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has made a U-turn on its earlier statement that the national grid would be shut down following Tuesday’s declaration of a nationwide strike by organized labour.
Recall that TCN’s spokesperson Ndidi Mbah had confirmed to DAILY POST on Tuesday that electricity workers shut down the national grid in compliance with the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, on indefinite strike.
Conversation between DAILY POST and TCN’s spokesperson:
DAILY POST: Hello ma, good morning, how is everything? You are speaking with a correspondent from DAILY POST. I needed to confirm, we just discovered that from 11.20 yesterday, most part of…
TCN spokesperson cuts in: Were you not in the press, you got the press release from the NLC.
DAILY POST: Yes, I got the press release from NLC, but I have not seen any notification from the independent union within the sector regarding the shutdown
TCN spokesperson: They won’t do; they are under the NLC…
DAILY POST: So the grid has been shut down?
TCN spokesperson: Are they not under the umbrella of either the NLC or the TUC?
DAILY POST: Yes, all of them.
TCN spokesperson: So what do you want unions to do in this situation? NLC is, just like you come to an office, you see an MD, the MD gives an instruction, the head of the department will give, you follow or not follow.
However, a few hours later, a statement signed by TCN’s management said the nation’s grid is intact and supplying bulk electricity to distribution load centres nationwide.
“We hereby note that the nation’s grid is intact and supplying bulk electricity to distribution load centres nationwide.
“As of when issuing this statement, the TCN National Control Centre Osogbo, which controls bulk power transmission nationwide, is actively operational.
“We would appreciate that reports are made with a sense of responsibility, not just to cause panic,” it stated.
Findings by DAILY POST show that electricity supply had been restored in parts of the federal capital territory as of the time of filing this report.
