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14 — VANGUARD, THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2020
FIRE RAZES BALOGUN MARKET IN LAGOS
The popular Balogun Market on Lagos Island with many buildings and goods gutted by
fire, yesterday. Photos: Lamidi Bamidele
•Firemen from Federal and Lagos State Fire service, battling to put
off the inferno.
•Part of the buildings engulfed by fire.
•A cross section of affected traders and sympathisers
•Some traders with retrieved goods from the affected buildings.
:Vanguard News
:@vanguardnews
Nationwide blackout looms, as workers
issue fresh 14-day strike notice
By Victor Young
WORKERS in the na
tion’s electricity sector
yesterday issued a fresh
14 day strike notice to the
Federal Government over
unresolved labour issues,
raising fears of another nationwide
blackout less than
two months after a similar
blackout.
Under the umbrella of
National Union of Electricity
Employees, NUEE, the
workers, at a briefing yesterday
in Lagos, threatened
to resume their strike, suspended
on December 11,
2019, lamenting, among
others, that none of the issues
agreed on before the
suspension of the strike was
addressed.
Recall that members of
NUEE had on December
10, 2019 threw the country
into darkness for one day,
as they shutdown both
power generating and distributing
systems over unresolved
issues especially
payment of outstanding
entitlements to former staff
of defunct Power Holding
Company of Nigeria,
PHCN, among others.
The strike was however
suspended on December
11, 2019 following the intervention
of the National
Assembly, and Ministry of
Labour and Employment,
leading to the signing of an
agreement by key stakeholders-
including NUEE,
Ministry of Power and Bureau
for Public Enterprises,
BPE, that supervises the
privatisation of public assets
in the country.
Briefing, General Secretary
of NUEE, Joe Ajaero,
alongside other officials of
the union including its President,
Martins Uzoegwu,
lamented that at a meeting
on Monday to chart a way
forward, the Minister of
State for Power, Goddy
Agba, allegedly resorted to
harassment, intimidation,
banging of table and eventually
walked out on the
union.
He demanded among
others, a public apology
from the Minister, claiming
that rather than resolving
the issue of over 2,000 workers
who never received their
severance pay following the
privatisation of PHCN, and
16 months underpayment
of those who received
theirs, as well as payment
of 7.5 percent pension component,
which the BPE fully
acknowledged, the Minister
resorted to harassment
of the union. The union alleged
that the minister after
shouting down labour
leaders and walking out
during the meeting on January
27, 2020, convened to
resolve the outstanding issues
captured in the agreement
signed on December
11, 2019, said, among others:
“In view of this un-ministerial
behavior of the minister
of State, Power, the
Union wishes to demand
as follows: An unreserved
apology from the Minister
of State, Power for humiliation,
intimidation, harassment
and abuse of privilege,
thereby undermining
the interest of the workers
in the sector, the Minister
of State for Power must declare
to Nigerians his relationship
with Sahara Energy
whose promoters
have been involved in
meetings with him against
the interest of the Union.
"Please note that the
union had raised issues
over the Sahara Energy
takeover of Egbin Power
Station without bidding
and due process as well as
the acquisition of both Egbin
Power Station and Ikeja
Electricity by the same
Sahara Energy contrary to
the Power Sector Reform
Act; a withdrawal of the
statement, that he has concluded
arrangement with
one Mr. Kola to send us to
Minister of Labour to deal
with the Union."