80% Workforce In DisCos, GenCos Are Casual workers, says NUEE

About 80 per cent of workforce in electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) and electricity Generation Companies (GenCos) are casual workers and as such, were being treated like slaves, the National Union of Electricity Employees of Nigeria(NUEE) has lamented.

The vice president, Lagos/Ogun, NUEE, Comrade Akeem Ladoja, who made this known at a press conference organised by the chapter, in Lagos recently described the attitude of the investors in the electricity sector as modern slave practice.

Similarly, he, on behalf of the union, appealed to federal government to enforce the provision and installation of prepaid metres in houses in order to fulfill its order given by federal government on metering all the yet to be metered houses.

He said the union is worried by the situation in the electricity industry based on non-additional equipment since the time investors took over to upgrade and expand their capacities/networks.

Reading the text jointly signed by the vice president of the union, Comrade Akeem Ladoja and assistant general secretary, Comrade Temple Iworima, NUEE stressed that, “it goes beyond giving out instruction on provision of metres to customers. It is not enough to give out mere instruction without following it up with measure to ensure compliance. Several million people are suffering from the burden of estimated billing.”

Speaking on the topic, ‘hustlers in the power sector,’ Iworima and Ladoja said: “ casualisation as experienced in the industry, lack of welfare packages coupled with being denied the fundamental constitutional rights to belong or join the union, among others, are now the order of the day as companies have simply become glorified modern day slave camps.”

Furthermore, the duo said: “electricity tariff has continued to rise without making prepaid meters available to Nigerians despite the federal government’s directive to the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the DisCos to do so. This has made customers to suffer estimated bills and reap offs. And DisCos have not been able to supply and install new distribution transformers to relief the already over loaded ones nor expand the existing network.”